Liver Span by Ultrasound in Healthy Adults in Zaria, North- Western Nigeria

Background: Liver span may provide information concerning the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of various gastrointestinal and hematological diseases. Ultrasound has been found to be both accurate and reliable for these measurements. Aims of the study: The present study was planned to establisha normative data for liver span by ultrasound and to study its correlation with some anthropometric variables in adults’ Nigerian population in Zaria. Materials and Method: Thestudy was conducted in the Department of Radiology and Human Anatomy, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria between January and August 2016. Three hundred and fifty apparently healthy young adults (175 males and 175 females) resident in Zaria who gave their informed consent were randomly selected and recruited for the study. The study proocol was approved by the Ethical Committee of the University. The longitudinal dimension of the liver was obtained in the midclavicular plane with the subject in deep inspiration. In addition, the age, sex, height (Ht) and weight (Wt) of the subjects were recorded. The liver scan was done with a Mindray diagnostic ultrasound system (Model DC-3, 2010/2012, Nanshan, Shenzen, PR China) plus 2.56 MHZ curvilinear probe. Hard copy image was taken for documentation, and all the measurement was done by a single trained sonologist to reduce inter-observer errors. Results: There was no significant sex related differences in the liver span (P>0.05) as such the mean liver span for the overall population was 14.15±1.46 cm.The liver span was significantly positively correlated with Ht (r=0.260), Wt (r=0.390), BMI (0.276) and BSA (0.393). The strongest correlation was observed between liver span and BSA. Conclusion: TheNormal value of liversize in the adult Nigerian population in Zaria (North Western region) and model for predicting liver span hasbeen generated [Liver span=8.286+3.520 (BSA)].