OBJECTIVE. The objectiveof this studywas to determinethe normal rangeof dimen sions for the liver, spleen, and kidney in healthy neonates, infants, and children.SUBJECTS AND METHODS. This prospectivestudyinvolved307 pediatricsubjects (169 girls and 138 boys) with normal physicalor sonographicfindingswho were examined becauseof problems unrelated to the measuredorgans. The subjects were 5 days to 16 years old. All measured organs were sonographically normal. At least two dimensions were ob tamed for each liver, spleen, and kidney. Relationships of the dimensions of these organs with sex, age, body weight, height, and body surface area were investigated. Suggested limits of normal dimensions were defined.RESULTS. Dimensionsof the measuredorganswere notstatisticallydifferentin boysand girls. Longitudinaldimensionsof all threeorgansshowedthe bestcorrelationwith age,body weight, height, and body surface area. Height showed the strongest correlation of all. This correlationwasa polynomialcorrelation.CONCLUSION. Determinationof pathologicchangesin sizeof the liver,spleen,andkid ney necessitates knowing the normal range of dimensions for these organs in healthy neonates, infants, and children. Presented data are applicable in daily routine sonography. Body height should be considered the best criteria to correlate with longitudinal dimensions of these organs. Sonography provides a quick as sessment of visceral organ di mensions without any risk of radiation. The normal range of visceral organ sizes in adults and children determined with sonography has been reported elsewhere [ Iâ€"¿ 13]. However, available data are limited for the liver and the spleen in children, which causes difficulty in defining hepatomegaly and splenomegaly sonographically. Our purposewas primarily to document the normal range of dimensions of the liver in children. The relationship of each dimen sion with sex,age, body weight, height,and body surface area was determined. A similar evaluation was done for the spleen and the kidney at the same time.We prospectively examined 307 pediatric sub jects ( 169 girls and 138 boys) with sonography. The rangeof agewasfrom full-termnewborns (5 days) to 16 years. Patients who did not have normal growth curves (who were not in the third to 97th percentiles)were not includedin the study.Another major criterion for selection of children was having no clinically or sonographically pathologic findings related to the studied organs. Most children were completely healthy. although some were undergo ing follow-up for a disease unrelated to the mea sured organs, such as hip dysplasiaor undescended testes. No child had a history of oncologic, hemato logic, or traumatic conditions. Some children with urinarytract infectionwereincludedin the study, butonly liverandspleendimensions wererecorded inthose patients. Wealsodidnotrecord dimensions of a number of spleens for which abdominal gas distentionpreventedreliablesize measurements.All measured organshada normalpositionandshape and normalecho texture.We used high-resolutio...

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Presacral space enlargement may be the first sign of certain diseases. The normal width of the presacral space has not been widely investigated and in all previous studies was calculated from lateral radiographs obtained at barium enema examination. Our study determined the normal width of the presacral space on MRI and investigated a possible difference between men and women. The width of the presacral space was measured retrospectively from sagittal T2-weighted MR images of 193 patients (87 males; 106 females, aged 18-83 years). Presacral space width was measured separately for S1, S2, and S3 vertebral levels from the anterior surface of the vertebral bodies to the closest part of the posterior wall of the rectum. Differences between male and female subjects were analyzed by t-tests. Normal mean widths of the presacral space in men and women were 16.2 mm and 11.9 mm for S1, 14.9 mm and 11.2 mm for S2, and 13.0 mm and 10.6 mm for S3, respectively. Measurements of the presacral space width in men were significantly larger than in women at all three levels (P < 0.001 for S1, P < 0.001 for S2, P = 0.006 for S3). In summary, the presacral space width measured on MRI was found to be significantly larger in the male than in the female population.

The objective is to evaluate the appearance of phleboliths and distal ureteral stones by determining their roundness and presence of central lucency on thin-slice CT. Seventy-seven patients with pelvic radioopacities at unenhanced CT were selected. Those patients consequently underwent thin-slice CT with 1-mm collimation, a FOV of 10 cm, a pitch of 1:1 and a bone reconstruction algorithm. Three radiologists reviewed all images for roundness and the presence of central radiolucency. No calculi showed central lucency on either imaging technique used. Thin-slice CT revealed central lucency in 60% of phleboliths with 100% specificity. Three of 40 ureteral stones showed round contour. Thin-slice CT revealed a round contour in 97% of phleboliths with 93% specificity. Central lucency is a characteristic finding of pelvic phleboliths on thin-slice CT. This finding can therefore be used in combination with roundness as a problem-solving tool in differentiating phleboliths from distal ureteral stones.

Aspergillus infection is invasive in nature in the immunosuppressed population and disseminates throughout the body, with the brain being a common site. Conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) combined with diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) play a life-saving role in the early diagnosis and treatment monitoring of this potentially fatal infection. We present MRI, DWI, and MRS findings of a case of central nervous system aspergillosis with treatment follow-up.