Sonographic Evaluation of Normal Renal Indices in an Adult Nigerian Population

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate sonographically the normal renal indices among Southeast Nigerian adults and to verify possible correlations with age, height and body weight. A total of 310 subjects (135 men and 175 women) were randomly selected for the study. The subjects' ages ranged from 18 to 80 years (mean = 38 ± 10.6 years). The heights of the subjects ranged from 1.45 to 1.85m (mean = 1.64 ± 0.08m) whereas their weight ranged from 46 to 102kg (mean = 65.8 ± 6.3kg). The mean body surface area (BSA) was significantly greater in men than in women (P < 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between the mean renal indices (R1) of men and women for the right and left kidney respectively (P > 0.05). When both sexes were combined, the mean left R1 was found to be statistically greater than the mean right R1 (P < 0.05). Thus the normal values of R1 are 25.65 ± 3.62cm and 26.68 ± 3.64cm for the right and left kidneys respectively. There was poor correlation of RI with subjects' age, height and body weight, which may be due to non-dependent of R1 on body size. Results suggest that renal index is a good parameter for the assessment of renal size in adults because it is independent of gender and body size.