Ultrasonographic Splenic Indices Among Paediatric and Adults with Sickle Cell Disease in Nigeria (original) (raw)

BackgroundUltrasonography is an established and reliable method for assessing the spleen. Because of variation due to genetic and other environmental factors including malaria endemicity, interpretation of splenic sizes requires a knowledge of the normal reference range for a given population. The aim of this study was to determine spleen size in different age groups among healthy people in North-Eastern Nigeria and use this as a reference to determine spleen size amongst sickle cell disease (SCD) patients.MethodsUsing a cross-sectional study design, spleen size was measured in healthy people of different age groups, and steady-state SCD patients (children and adults) using abdominal ultrasonography. Using the age-group specific reference values obtained from the controls, spleens were classified into small, normal size, or enlarged among the SCD patients.ResultsAbdominal ultrasonography was performed for 313 participants, comprising 109 (34.8%) healthy controls and 204 (65.2%) stea...

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