title: Sonographic assessment of normal kidney dimensions in the first year of life--a study of 992 healthy infants.
abstract: The omission of standards for renal length in infants younger than 1 year may result in a statistically significant increase in the frequency of "spurious" nephromegaly. Nonetheless, there are only a few reports specifically dealing with normal kidney dimensions in infants. Based on sonographic assessments performed on a sample of 992 healthy infants, between January 2002 and December 2004, this paper sets up standards for normal kidney dimensions in children aged 0-3 months, 3-6 months, 6-9 months, and 9-12 months and establishes correlations between kidney dimensions (length, width, and volume) and body length and weight. Linear as well as non-linear nomograms, with percentiles for all the kidney variables examined, based on body length, are provided. Also, statistically significant differences in mean values (P=0.000) for all the observed neonatal kidney parameters, depending on gestational age at birth, are demonstrated. Principal advantages of our nomograms are that they are based on a large number of examined healthy infants and that kidney dimensions are related to body length. In addition, subjects are divided into four sub-annual age groups demonstrating gender-related differences in renal growth dynamics. Our linear nomograms are easier to use for routine clinical practice, but the percentile-based non-linear nomograms we present cover a much wider range of variations in normal infant kidney dimensions.
authors.affiliation: University Children's Hospital of Kragujevac, Zmaj Jovina 30, 34000, Kragujevac, Serbia. anavujic@ptt.yu
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vujic
authors.forename: Jovan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kosutic
authors.forename: Radovan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bogdanovic
authors.forename: Sergej
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Prijic
authors.forename: Biljana
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Milicic
authors.forename: Zoran
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Igrutinovic
mesh_terms: D001837:Body Weights and Measures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007668:Kidney / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000254:growth & development; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014463:Ultrasonography