Comparison of cross-sectional area measurement and width measurement by high frequency ultrasound in the diagnosis of congenital adrenal hyperplasia in infants / 中华超声影像学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate and compare the value of cross-sectional area measurement and width measurement by high frequency ultrasound in the diagnosis of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) in infants.Methods:The abdominal ultrasound images of 20 infants who were diagnosed as CAH in Tianjin Children′s Hospital and clinical diagnosised from November 2013 to August 2018 were analyzed retrospectively. The maximum cross-sectional area of adrenal gland and the maximum width of single limb were measured respectively to assess the size of adrenal gland. Fifty normal full-term infants were selected as control group at the same period. The differences of maximum cross-sectional area of adrenal gland, the maximum width of single limb between CAH group and control group were compared. ROC curve was plotted to compare the diagnostic values of cross-sectional area measurement and width measurement.Results:①There was significant difference in maximum cross-sectional area of adrenal gland between infants with CAH and normal infants[(129.47±37.39)mm 2 vs (54.42±20.85)mm 2; t=10.004, P<0.001]. There was significant difference in maximum width of adrenal gland between infants with CAH and normal infants [(4.56±1.20)mm vs (3.25±0.66)mm; t=5.445, P<0.001]. ②The area under ROC curve(AUC) of cross-sectional area measurement was 0.966, the best cutoff value was 87.5 mm 2, the sensitivity was 95.0%, and the specificity was 92.5%. AUC of width measurement was 0.817, the best cutoff value was 5.25 mm, the sensitivity was 90.0%, and the specificity was 62.5%. The difference of AUC between cross-sectional area measurement and width measurement was 0.149, which was statistically significant ( Z=2.309, P=0.021). Conclusions:Both cross-sectional area measurement and width measurement by high frequency ultrasound have diagnostic values for CAH in infants, with the former more valuable than the latter.