Spleen volume calculator (US)

Notes

Prolate ellipsoid formula

• The formula is the following:
  • Spleen volume (cm³) = 0.52 × length × thickness × width

• Numerous variations in terminology exist for the formula with some authors using e.g. anteroposterior dimension or depth instead of thickness
  • ^{Badran DH, Kalbouneh HM, Al-Hadidi MT, Shatarat AT, Tarawneh ES, Hadidy AM, Mahafza WS. Ultrasonographic assessment of splenic volume and its correlation with body parameters in a Jordanian population. Saudi Med J. 2015 Aug;36(8):967-72. doi: 10.15537/smj.2015.8.11809. PMID: 26219448; PMCID: PMC4549594.}

Modified formula

• The modified formula was designed to improve the accuracy of the original:
  • Spleen volume (cm³) = 0.524 × W × T × (ML + CCL) / 2
    • Where:
    • W = Maximum dimension in the transverse image (width)
    • T = Shortex distance between the hilum and the outer convex surface of the spleen (thickness)
    • ML = Maximum length in the longitudinal image
    • CCL = Cranio-caudal length being measured from most superior margin to most inferior margin of spleen

• ^{Yetter EM, Acosta KB, Olson MC, Blundell K. Estimating splenic volume: sonographic measurements correlated with helical CT determination. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2003 Dec;181(6):1615-20. doi: 10.2214/ajr.181.6.1811615. PMID: 14627584.}

Practical points

• It has been found that spleen volume measured on ultrasonography is substantially influenced by height and gender, age and sex-corrected reference values can be found in this paper:
  • ^{Chow KU, Luxembourg B, Seifried E, Bonig H. Spleen Size Is Significantly Influenced by Body Height and Sex: Establishment of Normal Values for Spleen Size at US with a Cohort of 1200 Healthy Individuals. Radiology. 2016 Apr;279(1):306-13. doi: 10.1148/radiol.2015150887. Epub 2015 Oct 28. PMID: 26509293.}

• The normal range of spleen volume and its numerous caveats are discussed in detail on the CT spleen volume calculator page.

Last updated: 2021-11-28