الفهرس 
Introduction and Aim of WorkOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Assesment of growth of external genitalia is an essential component of health surveillance in pediatric and adolescent populations. It is important to establish reference ranges of TV, when considering significant variation in the general population. Although tables and growth charts provide reference ranges for the weight and height of children and adolescents, data on testicular measurements are available only for some populations.
A number of measurement methods are used to measure TV, including calipers, orchidometry , US and MRI. US is generally recognized as the most accurate method and Lambert formula is considered the most accurate formula to calculate the TV.
The present study aims to measure TV in prepubertal boys at different ages in Minia. It had been conducted on 292 prepubertal boys. The age of the boys ranged from one month till 14 Ys. The boys were classified into 24 age groups; each contains boys, from either urban or rural areas, to establish a reference range for TV for each age group and detect the relation of TV with age, weight, length and BMI.
Testicular H, W and L was measured by US. Grey-scale images of the testes were obtained in the longitudinal plain to measure the testicular H and transverse plain to measure the testicular W and L. After recording the maximum H, W and L, TV was calculated using the following formula W× H× L × 0.71.
The obtained results showed that there was no significant difference between the Rt and Lt TV for all boys. TV increased fom one month to 5 month and then started to decrease till 9 month. Then, minimal changes occurred in TV till 10 y.
As regarding body weight, body length and BMI there were significant statistical correlation between each of them and the TV where the p value was 0.001.
This study provides that, newborn male infants have an active hypothalamus- pituitary-testicular axis that occurs up to six months of postnatal age. TV at early months of life reflects the activity and normality of this hormonal axis. Therefore, normal external genitalia with an adequate size of the penis and testes in a male baby at birth imply normality in the male sex development so recognition of the normal value of TV in prepubertal period is important.
Our data may serve as an updated reference for normal TV in Egyptian boys from one month up to 14 Ys old.