Organomegaly Explained

Organomegaly is the abnormal enlargement of organs. For example, cardiomegaly is enlargement of the heart. Visceromegaly is the enlargement of abdominal organs.[1] Examples of visceromegaly are enlarged liver (hepatomegaly), spleen (splenomegaly), stomach, kidneys, and pancreas.

Definitions for various organs

Values refer to adults unless otherwise specified.

Organ Term for enlargement Cutoff for definition
Ectasia or mild dilation>2.0 cm and <3.0 cm[2]
Abdominal aortic aneurysm
  • Moderate AAA: 3.0–5.0 cm
  • Large or severe AAA: >5.0 or 5.5.[3] cm
Dilatation
  • Mild dilatation:[4] 8–12 mm
  • Moderate dilatation: 12–16 mm
  • Severe dilatation: 16–20 mm
  • Extremely severe dilatation: >20 mm
Wall thickening 3 mm wall thickness[5]
Hydrops Greater than 5 cm transverse dimension[6]

Indicated by cardiothoracic ratio over 0.5.[7]

Cardiomegaly has been suggested when the heart weighs more than >399 grams in women and >449 grams in men.[8]

DilationUpper limit of normal range of diameter:[9]

10.5 cm

7.0 cm

6.5 cm

Wall thickening Wall thickness 5 mm[10]
Kidneys Enlargement

Length >13 cm in females or >14 cm in males.[11]

Sex Upper limit of standard reference range
Right kidney Left kidney
Men 160g 175g
Women 175g 190g

Longitudinal axis > 15.5 cm at the hepatic midline, or > 16.0 cm at the midclavicular line[12]

Weight over upper limit of standard reference range, of 1860g in men[13] and 1770g in women.[14]

Lymph nodes Generally 10 mm[15] [16]
Part of hydronephrosis grading4 – 20 mm:

Anteroposterior diameter of less than 4 mm in fetuses up to 32 weeks of gestational age and 7 mm afterwards.[17]

  • Adults: cutoff values defined differently by different sources, with anteroposterior diameters ranging between 10 and 20 mm.[18] About 13% of normal healthy adults have a transverse pelvic diameter of over 10 mm.[19]
Volume over 30 cm3.
Dilation >29 mm[20]
Dilation
  • Mild: 2.5–2.9 cm[22]
  • Moderate: 3-4 cm
Wall thickening 3–5 mm[26]
Splenomegaly

Largest dimension of over 11 cm,[27] [28] or craniocaudal height of 13[29] cm.

  • Moderate splenomegaly: the largest dimension is between 11–20 cm
  • Severe splenomegaly: the largest dimension is greater than 20 cm
  • Autopsy

Weight over upper limit of standard reference range, of 230g

DilationDiameters:
  • >3.5 cm generally[30]

Upper limits of standard reference range:

  • 3.3 cm in small young individuals[31]
  • 2.3 cm among small young individuals
  • 3.2 cm among large elderly individuals.
Diameter:
  • > 4.5 cm (US)
  • > 4.0 cm (Korea)[32]
5 cm (long axis) x 3 cm (short axis)[33]
Enlarged tonsil 2.5 cm in length, 2.0 cm in width and 1.2 cm in thickness.[34]
6[35] or 7[36] mm
Wall thickening 3–5 mm thick, and < 3 mm when well distended.[37]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Visceromegaly on Medline Plus. 6 February 2013.
  2. https://books.google.com/books?id=zbydAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA56 Page 56
  3. Lindholt JS, Juul S, Fasting H, Henneberg EW . Screening for abdominal aortic aneurysms: single centre randomised controlled trial . BMJ . 330 . 7494 . 750 . Apr 2005 . 15757960 . 555873 . 10.1136/bmj.38369.620162.82 .
  4. Etiological Causes of Intrahepatic and Extrahepatic Bile Duct Dilatation. Yunfu Lv, Wan Yee Lau, Haiying Wu, Shunwu Chang, NingLiu, Yejuan Li, Jie Deng. International Journal of New Technology and Research (IJNTR). 1. 8. 2015.
  5. van Breda Vriesman. Adriaan C.. Engelbrecht. Marc R.. Smithuis. Robin H. M.. Puylaert. Julien B. C. M.. Diffuse Gallbladder Wall Thickening: Differential Diagnosis. American Journal of Roentgenology. 188. 2. 2007. 495–501. 0361-803X. 10.2214/AJR.05.1712. 17242260.
  6. Page 256 in Book: Liver and Biliary Diseases. Neil Kaplowitz. Williams & Wilkins. 1996. 9780683045451.
  7. Justin. M. Zaman. S. Sanders. J.. Crook. A. M. Feder. G.. Shipley. M.. Timmis. A.. Hemingway. H.. Cardiothoracic ratio within the "normal" range independently predicts mortality in patients undergoing coronary angiography. Heart. 93. 4. 2007. 491–494. 1355-6037. 10.1136/hrt.2006.101238. 17164481. 1861494.
  8. Tracy. Richard Everett. Association of Cardiomegaly with Coronary Artery Histopathology and its Relationship to Atheroma. Journal of Atherosclerosis and Thrombosis. 18. 1. 2011. 32–41. 1880-3873. 10.5551/jat.5090. 20953090. free.
  9. Nguyen H, Loustaunau C, Facista A, Ramsey L, Hassounah N, Taylor H, Krouse R, Payne CM, Tsikitis VL, Goldschmid S, Banerjee B, Perini RF, Bernstein C . Deficient Pms2, ERCC1, Ku86, CcOI in field defects during progression to colon cancer . J Vis Exp . 41 . 2010 . 20689513 . 3149991 . 10.3791/1931 .
  10. Fernandes. Teresa. Oliveira. Maria I.. Castro. Ricardo. Araújo. Bruno. Viamonte. Bárbara. Cunha. Rui. Bowel wall thickening at CT: simplifying the diagnosis. Insights into Imaging. 5. 2. 2014. 195–208. 1869-4101. 10.1007/s13244-013-0308-y. 24407923. 3999365.
  11. Web site: Kidneys. Yuranga Weerakkody . Henry Knipe. etal. Radiopaedia. 2017-11-13.
  12. Vermelho. Marli Batista Fernandes. Correia. Ademir Silva. Michailowsky. Tânia Cibele de Almeida. Suzart. Elizete Kazumi Kuniyoshi. Ibanês. Aline Santos. Almeida. Lanamar Aparecida. Khoury. Zarifa. Barba. Mário Flores. Abdominal alterations in disseminated paracoccidioidomycosis: computed tomography findings. Radiologia Brasileira. 48. 2. 2015. 81–85. 0100-3984. 10.1590/0100-3984.2013.0025. 25987748. 4433296.
  13. Molina. D. Kimberley. DiMaio. Vincent J.M.. Normal Organ Weights in Men. The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology. 33. 4. 2012. 368–372. 0195-7910. 10.1097/PAF.0b013e31823d29ad. 22182984. 32174574.
  14. Molina. D. Kimberley. DiMaio. Vincent J. M.. Normal Organ Weights in Women. The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology. 36. 3. 2015. 182–187. 0195-7910. 10.1097/PAF.0000000000000175. 26108038. 25319215.
  15. Ganeshalingam. Skandadas. Koh. Dow-Mu. Nodal staging. Cancer Imaging. 9. 1. 104–11. 2009. 1470-7330. 10.1102/1470-7330.2009.0017. 20080453. 2821588.
  16. Schmidt Júnior. Aurelino Fernandes. Rodrigues. Olavo Ribeiro. Matheus. Roberto Storte. Kim. Jorge Du Ub. Jatene. Fábio Biscegli. Distribuição, tamanho e número dos linfonodos mediastinais: definições por meio de estudo anatômico. Jornal Brasileiro de Pneumologia. 33. 2. 2007. 134–140. 1806-3713. 10.1590/S1806-37132007000200006. 17724531. free.
  17. https://books.google.com/books?id=2PwlBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA189 Page 189
  18. https://books.google.com/books?id=7YfQAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA78 Page 78
  19. Emamian SA, Nielsen MB, Pedersen JF, Ytte L . Sonographic evaluation of renal appearance in 665 adult volunteers. Correlation with age and obesity . Acta Radiol . 34 . 5 . 482–5 . 1993 . 8369185 . 10.3109/02841859309175388.
  20. Web site: Pulmonary hypertension. Frank Gaillard. etal. Radiopaedia. 2017-05-27.
  21. Gazelle. G S. Goldberg. M A. Wittenberg. J. Halpern. E F. Pinkney. L. Mueller. P R. Efficacy of CT in distinguishing small-bowel obstruction from other causes of small-bowel dilatation.. American Journal of Roentgenology. 162. 1. 1994. 43–47. 0361-803X. 10.2214/ajr.162.1.8273687. 8273687. free.
  22. Kuang. Lian-qin. Zhao. Da-wei. Cheng. Cheng. Wang. Yi. Prediction of Small Bowel Obstruction Caused by Bezoars Using Risk Factor Categories on Multidetector Computed Tomographic Findings. BioMed Research International. 2016. 2016. 1–9. 2314-6133. 10.1155/2016/6569103. 27403434. 4925944. free.
  23. Web site: Small-Bowel Obstruction Imaging. Medscape. 2016-09-22. Ali Nawaz Khan. 2017-02-07.
  24. Web site: Abdominal X-ray - Abnormal bowel gas pattern. radiologymasterclass.co.uk. 2017-02-07.
  25. Pérez. M. A.. Affatato. Saverio. Zanini. Filippo. Carmignato. Simone. Micro X-Ray Computed Tomography Mass Loss Assessment of Different UHMWPE: A Hip Joint Simulator Study on Standard vs. Cross-Linked Polyethylene. PLOS ONE. 12. 1. 2017. e0170263. 1932-6203. 10.1371/journal.pone.0170263. 28107468. 5249200. 2017PLoSO..1270263A. free.
  26. Web site: Small-Bowel Obstruction Imaging. Ali Nawaz Khan. 2017-03-07. Medscape. Updated: Sep 22, 2016
  27. Splenomegaly. Neetu Radhakrishnan. Medscape. 2018-07-25. Updated Apr. 2012 (referring the classification system to Poulin et al.
  28. https://books.google.com/books?id=DdBJ6jCf8KgC&pg=PA1964 Page 1964
  29. Saboo. S S. Krajewski. K M. O'Regan. K N. Giardino. A. Brown. J R. Ramaiya. N. Jagannathan. J P. Spleen in haematological malignancies: spectrum of imaging findings. The British Journal of Radiology. 85. 1009. 2012. 81–92. 0007-1285. 10.1259/bjr/31542964. 22096219. 3473934.
  30. Web site: Thoracic Aneurysm. Bret P Nelson. 2015-10-01. Medscape. 2017-04-16.
  31. Wolak. Arik. Gransar. Heidi. Thomson. Louise E.J.. Friedman. John D.. Hachamovitch. Rory. Gutstein. Ariel. Shaw. Leslee J.. Polk. Donna. Wong. Nathan D.. Saouaf. Rola. Hayes. Sean W.. Rozanski. Alan. Slomka. Piotr J.. Germano. Guido. Berman. Daniel S.. Aortic Size Assessment by Noncontrast Cardiac Computed Tomography: Normal Limits by Age, Gender, and Body Surface Area. JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging. 1. 2. 2008. 200–209. 1936-878X. 10.1016/j.jcmg.2007.11.005. 19356429. free.
  32. Cho. In-Jeong. Jang. Sung-Yeol. Chang. Hyuk-Jae. Shin. Sanghoon. Shim. Chi Young. Hong. Geu-Ru. Chung. Namsik. Aortic Aneurysm Screening in a High-Risk Population: A Non-Contrast Computed Tomography Study in Korean Males with Hypertension. Korean Circulation Journal. 44. 3. 2014. 162–9. 1738-5520. 10.4070/kcj.2014.44.3.162. 24876857. 4037638.
  33. https://books.google.com/books?id=safNmcP3lakC&pg=PA559 Page 559
  34. Book: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-1-4471-3332-2_26 . 10.1007/978-1-4471-3332-2_26 . Normal Anatomy, Histology; Inflammatory Diseases . Ear, Nose and Throat Histopathology . 1987 . Michaels . L. . 265–272 . 978-1-4471-3334-6 .
  35. Web site: Enlarged ureter. Greifswald Medical School. 2017-02-06. 2015-12-18. https://web.archive.org/web/20170207112905/http://www2.medizin.uni-greifswald.de/ki_chir/1/spectrum-of-care/thoracic-surgery/enlarged-ureter/. 2017-02-07. dead.
  36. https://books.google.com/books?id=3XWKCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA140 Page 140
  37. https://books.google.com/books?id=Z4t3dnDR1e8C&pg=PA12 Page 12

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