A sonographic study of kidney dimensions in Saudi’s University Students

Objective: To investigate normal sonographic measurements of the kidney in the young (19-28 years) Saudi males and females. Sonography is a widely used imaging modality for examination of the kidneys, utilized to evaluate dimension of the kidneys during the progression of a renal disease. Methodology: Following measurements of subjects height, body weight and measurement of serum level of creatinine, estimation of renal dimensions and size by ultrasonic tests is in two asymptomatic groups (young males (20-26 Years) and young females (19-28 Years)). Renal sonography was carried out using a Convex type probe 2-5 MHz and a Phased array probe 6 -13 MHz Hitachi EUB- 6500 (Hitachi, Japan). Renal length, width, thickness, cortical thickness and central echogenic area length, width and thickness were measured from the sonographic images, renal volume was calculated mathematically. Results: Left kidney was found to be longer but thinner (10.77cm ±0.87 4.46cm ±0.69 respectively) than the right one (10.32cm ±0.69 4.94cm ±0.84 respectively). Both right and left kidneys dimensions and volume in the male group were larger than the renal dimensions in the females. An association between some renal dimensions, body weight and BMI was demonstrated. Conclusions: We suggest that renal volume calculations could play an important role in assessment of abnormalities in renal size although for everyday situations, measurement of renal length and cortical thickness is recommended.