Abstract
There have been few studies of kidney volume. Therefore, we performed a study of mean kidney volume and its correlations with sex, lateral asymmetry, kidney length, width, thickness and weight in 103 kidneys excised from 54 cadavers used for practical training in the department of anatomy of this university. Mean kidney volume was 131.0±97.4 ml (103 kidneys) and was greater in males than in females (p<0.05) but showed no lateral asymmetry. A strong correlation was only observed for mean kidney volume with weight (r=0.919), but no other correlations were observed. Next, the correlation between kidney-volume and cross-sectional area was investigated by measuring cross-sectional area after 59 kidneys having a macroscopically favorable appearance from 30 cadavers were sectioned frontally along the major axis. A strong correlation (r=0.769) was observed between cross-sectional area (mean: 45.82±9.84 cm2) and mean kidney volume (133.47±52.33 ml). These findings suggest that approximate values for kidney volume and weight can be obtained from kidney measurements using X-rays imaging and can, in turn, be applied clinically.
