RESUMO
Our objective was to investigate the pancreatic ultrasonographic size in diabetic children in order to compare in with a healthy population of children and to relate it to the characteristics of their disease. Fifty-four children (age 8.59 +/- 3.38 years) with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus of short evolution and 23 healthy children of similar ages and sex were investigated. Anteroposterior measurement of pancreatic head, body and tail with real time ultrasonography were performed searching for a relationship of these factors with the acinar and residual insular function. The pancreatic measurements in the diabetic patients were sizeable smaller than in the healthy children with no relationship to age, height, weight or body surface. There were no differences in the pancreatic measurements in relationship to the evolution time or residual insular function in the diabetics.
