Ultrasonography Renal Length Determination in Argentine Adults.

The estimation of renal size is an important parameter in clinical evaluation and management of adult patients with renal disease. The maximum longitudinal diameter (MLD) of both kidneys may be influenced by height, age, sex and body mass index without expressing change in glomerular filtration rate. However, changes in renal size between examinations may be a suggestive evidence of disease, thus highly specific parameters are needed for understand this differences. The absence of an adult renal nomogram adjusted to Argentine and regional anthropometric standards determines the need of assessment of renal adult average size for local people. Comparison of patient’s renal size with normal-anthropometric-adjusted parameters will help us to understand better renal pathology and define the usefulness of different diagnostic methods or immunosuppressive therapy. Renal ultrasonographic measurements from 400 patients treated in the Hospital Italiano of Buenos Aires from June 1, 2011 to June 31, 2012 were retrospectively analyzed. Exclusion criteria were applied to 302 patients due to diseases that could alter kidney size. Gender, age, right and left renal length, height, weight, creatinine serum levels and body mass index were the analized factors. Ninety-eigth subjects were included for this study: 63 women and 35 men. Average renal length was 110 mm (SD +/- 7.771 mm) for the right kidney and 110mm (SD +/- 8.018 mm) for the left kidney, even though the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.33). Obtained data show that left MLD is slightly higher than rigth DLM in conjunction with information provided by existing literature. In adults the main variable is weight. DLM regression according to age is in broad agreement with informed results from previous investigations. Data obtained from a large normal subjects population can be used to predict kidney size from anthropometric standards.