Computed tomography based pancreatic volume measurement in kashmiri population

ABSTRACT

Background: The volume of various abdominal organs varies with age, height, weight and body mass index (BMI).Scanning of the viscera is carried out to know the normal dimensions and volumes. Studies have shown that thevolume of pancreas is influenced by age, gender, ethnicity, weight, height and BMI. Organ volume and functionreflect the health of the organs. Altered volume of pancreas is associated with infective, infiltrative, immunological,infestative and malignant conditions. Anthropometry varies with races and regions of the world. Specific ethnicpopulation nomograms are needed for proper medical diagnosis and for monitoring disease progress.Results: A total of 300 eligible subjects between 20-60 years of age, who were to undergo abdominal computedtomography (CT) due to various indications, were included in the study. In our study the mean pancreatic volume(PV) was 115.71+-33.60 cm3. Pancreatic volume was significantly correlated with weight, height and BMI of thesubjects in our study.Conclusion: Nomograms from this data can be used locally for Kashmiri ethnic population to allow clinicians toestimate more accurately the degree of atrophy or hypertrophy of organs in certain disorders and thus, avoidfalse positive and false negative diagnosis of pathological enlargement or reduction of pancreas in clinicalpractice.