Ultrasound Evaluation of Bone Age in Healthy Children

Skeletal maturity assessment, defined also as bone age (BA), has an important role in pediatrics and pediatric endocrinology, used mainly for evaluating growth and puberty related endocrine disorders. Repeated BA assessment is important during the follow up of children with short stature, with precocious puberty and those treated by growth promoting medications. The most commonly used method used for determining skeletal maturity, and thus BA is based on comparison of a hand and wrist radiographs to a standard series of representative films in the "Radiographic atlas of skeletal development of the hand and wrist" by Greulich and Pyle (GP), which has been issued several decades ago. The suggested method in this study is based on ultrasound technology, and therefore it is quick, objective, and radiation-free. It delivers an immediate non biased result without the need to rely on an observer's evaluation of the hand radiograph and without the need for a specialized radiology facility.