Roentgen Size of Normal Kidneys

Abstract

Size of the kidneys is an important consideration in the diagnosis, prognosis, course, and treatment of renal disease. One of the simplest and most direct methods of estimating renal size is from measurements made on an anteroposterior roentgenogram of the abdomen. Practical application of this information requires knowledge of the range in size of normal kidneys as determined by the same method. The purpose of this paper is to report the kidney size in 1,286 patients from a general hospital population without recognizable renal disease. The kidney size was measured on abdominal roentgenograms obtained during intravenous urography, expressed as a function of the patient's body surface area, and correlated with the age, sex, and race. From these data, idealized normal (gaussian) distribution curves were constructed which indicate the range in size of normal kidneys in the population studied and the difference in size between each kidney in an individual subject. MaterialIncluded in this study were 1,286 in...