Abstract
Background
Hormonally sensitive organs in the neonate can change size within days of birth as circulating maternal estrogen wanes. Although several reports document the size of these organs through infancy, few focus attention on the near-birth period. Clinical and research evaluation of hormonal and genitourinary disorders would benefit from reference size standards.
Objective
We describe the size of the uterus, ovaries, testes and breast buds in healthy term neonates.
Materials and methods
As part of the Infant Feeding and Early Development (IFED) study, we sonographically measured the largest diameter of these organs in sagittal, transverse and anterior-posterior planes for 194 female and 204 male newborns up to 3 days old. We calculated mean, median and percentiles for longest axis length and for volume calculated from measured diameters. We evaluated size differences by laterality, gender and race and compared our observations against published values.
Results
Mean length and mean volume were as follows: uterus, 4.2 cm and 10.0 cm3; ovary, 1.0 cm and 0.2 cm3; testis, 1.1 cm and 0.3 cm3 (0.4 cm3 Lambert volume); female breast bud, 1.2 cm and 0.7 cm3; male breast bud, 1.1 cm and 0.6 cm3. Breast buds were larger in females than males. Laterality differences were typically below the precision of clinical measurement. No significant race differences were detected.
Conclusion
Using data from our large cohort together with published values, we provide guidelines for evaluating the size of reproductive organs within the first 3 days of age. Discrepancies between our results and published values are likely attributable to technique.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (project number Z01-ES044006). Data collection at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) was supported through subcontract PHR-SUPS2-S-09-00196 under contract HHSN291200555546C between the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and Social & Scientific Systems Inc. This project was supported by the Nutrition Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and by the National Center for Research Resources, Grant UL1TR000003. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.
We are grateful to all subjects and families for participation. We thank the care providers and staff at our three main study sites: the University of Pennsylvania Hospital, Pennsylvania Hospital and Virtua Voorhees Hospital; and at our four additional study sites: Virtua Memorial Hospital, Abington Memorial Hospital, Cooper Memorial Hospital and Holy Redeemer Hospital, where all of our birth visits took place. We thank Els Nijs, MD, Adeka McIntosh, MD, Laura Poznick, RDMS, Trudy Morgan, RDMS, Marcy Hutchinson, RDMS, RVT, Danielle Drigo, IFED Team of Research Assistants, and the Department of Radiology at CHOP for their work with study design, quality assurance, data procedures and collection. We thank our collaborators at the Department of Radiology at Virtua Voorhees, Elizabeth Fong-deLeon, MD, Department of Pediatrics at Virtua Voorhees Hospital, and Steven Shapiro, MD, Department of Pediatrics at Abington Memorial Hospital.
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Kaplan, S.L., Edgar, J.C., Ford, E.G. et al. Size of testes, ovaries, uterus and breast buds by ultrasound in healthy full-term neonates ages 0–3 days. Pediatr Radiol 46, 1837–1847 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00247-016-3681-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00247-016-3681-0