Sonographic determination of spleen to left kidney ratio among Igbo school age children of south east Nigeria.

Background: Clinical determination of mild splenomegaly is notoriously inaccurate.
Objectives:To determine sonographically the spleen to left kidney ratio according to age and somatometric parameters among school age children in a tropical environment.
Methods: A cross sectional study and convenience sampling were done on 947 apparently healthy subjects (496 boys and 451 girls) aged 6 - 17 years at the University of Nigeria Medical Centre, Nsukka. The sonographic examination was per-formed on Shenzhen DP-1100 machine with 3.5 and 5 MHz convex transducers. Spleen and left kidney lengths were ob-tained using appropriate techniques. The weight and height of the subjects were obtained with the participants wearing light weight street clothes without shoes.
Results:Measurement of spleen and left kidney lengths were reliable within and between sonographers. The spleen and left kidney lengths were not statistically different in boys and girls (p > 0.05). The spleen to left kidney ratio according to age and somatometric parameters is constant at about 1.13 with 1.3 as the upper limit of normal in the studied population.
Conclusion: Sonography can be used to detect mild splenomegaly if the spleen to left kidney ratio is greater than 1.3 in the absence of renal disease among school age children.