Renal size parameter. A sonographic method for measuring lumbar vertebral height in children.

A method for measuring the L1-L3 and L1-L4 distance by sonography is presented, and the results are compared with measurements from radiography. For 35 children aged 2 months to 13 years (mean 5.2 years) sonographic measurements displayed a mean percentage variation of 2.4 to 3.2 per cent from radiographic values. The coefficient of correlation was about 0.98. As sonography is suitable for kidney length estimation, the additional information obtained by the method presented makes it possible to perform the same kidney size evaluation by means of the same length/vertebral body-related diagrams already used in radiographic kidney size evaluation.