RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TRAUBE’S SPACE AND BODY MASS INDEX

Year 2016, Volume: 10 Issue: 2, 0 - 0, 25.08.2016

Dündar Kaçar Çağatay Barut Özdemir Sevinç

Abstract

Objectives: Traube’s space is located in the precordial area of the anterior chest wall and is used in the evaluation of spleen size;therefore, proper evaluation during physical examination is extremely important. The aim of this study was to evaluate the associationbetween Traube’s space, detected by Castell’s method, and body mass index (BMI).
Methods: Twenty-one male and 14 female subjects were evaluated by the same physician with percussion method, in 2007and 2010. Traube’s space was determined on the thoracic wall and its shape was drawn on transparent paper. The drawingswere scanned and the images were transferred to a personal computer (PC). The area of Traube’s space on each imagewas calculated using Digimizer software. BMI was calculated by the body weight/(height)2 formula. The data were evaluated with SPSS 13.0 software. To compare the data obtained in 2007 and 2010, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used.
Results: The BMI of males increased by 9.24% in three years, and the surface area of Traube’s space in males decreased by 36.02% in this period. The differences in BMI and Traube’s space were statistically significant (p<0.05). The BMI of females increased by 2.39% in three years, but the difference was not statistically significant (p>0.05). The surface area of Traube’s space of females decreased by 28.23% in this period, the difference was statistically significant (p<0.05).
Conclusion: The data obtained in this study are suggested to be useful for evaluation of Traube’s space and spleen size during physical examination in terms of gender and BMI.
Keywords: body mass index; female; male; Traube’s space

References

• Yang JC, Rickman LS, Bosser SK. The clinical diagnosis of
• splenomegaly. West J Med 1991;155:47-52.
• Yıldırım M. Topografik anatomi. İstanbul: Nobel Tıp Kitabevi;
• p. 283.
• Ökten A. Karnın fizik muayenesi. In: Kaysı A, ed. iç hastalıkları semiyolojisi. 4. baskı. İstanbul: Alfa Yayıncılık; 2007. p. 426.
• Korkut B, Alt›nbafl A, Sar›güzel A, Özergin U, Gök H. Discrete type
• subaortic stenosis in dextrocardia with situs inversus totalis. Int J
• Angiol 1998;7:258-60.
• Arıncı K, Elhan A. Anatomi. 2. cilt. 4. baskı. Ankara: Günefl Kitabevi;
• p. 105.
• Barkun AN, Camus M, Meagher T, Green L, Coupal L, De Stempel
• J, Grover SA. Splenic enlargement and Traube’s space: how useful is
• percussion? Am J Med 1989;87:562-6.
• Nixon RK Jr. The detection of splenomegaly by percussion. N Engl
• J Med 1954;250:166-7.
• Castell DO. The spleen percussion sign. A useful diagnostic technique.
• Ann Intern Med 1967;67:1265-7.
• Kaçar D, Barut C. Evaluation of Traube’s space using a novel computer-assisted method. Anatomy 2016;10:46-9.
• Paoletti S. The fasciae: anatomy, dysfunction and treatment. Seattle,
• WA: Eastland Press; 2006. p. 204-24.
• Zhang B, Lewis SM. A study of the reliability of clinical palpation of
• the spleen. Clin Lab Haematol 1989;11:7-10.
• Grover SA, Barkun AN, Sackett DL. The rational clinical examination.
• Does this patient have splenomegaly? JAMA 2011;305:1414.