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Usefulness of the Sauvegrain Method of Bone Age Assessment in Indian Children
Premal Naik1,2, Dhren Ganjwala3, Chhaya Bhatt4
1Rainbow Superspeciality Hospital and Children's Orthopaedic Centre, Next To Asia School, Behind HDFC Bank, Opposite Drive in Cinema Bodakdev, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380054 India.
Insights
The Sauvegrain method accurately estimates bone age in Indian children, proving useful for guided growth surgery. This bone age assessment tool helps detect discrepancies before procedures.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Orthopedics
- Radiology
- Growth and Development
Background:
- Accurate bone age estimation is crucial for pediatric orthopedic procedures like guided growth surgery.
- Limited data exists on bone age assessment for Indian children.
- The Sauvegrain method offers a simple approach for bone age assessment during rapid growth periods.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the accuracy and utility of the Sauvegrain method for bone age estimation in Indian children.
- To establish the reliability of the Sauvegrain method among healthcare professionals.
Main Methods:
- Elbow X-rays of 80 healthy Indian children (40 boys, 40 girls) were assessed twice by a team of pediatric orthopedic surgeons and a radiologist.
- Interobserver reliability and intraobserver reproducibility of the Sauvegrain scoring were evaluated.
Main Results:
- The Sauvegrain method demonstrated strong interobserver correlation (r > 0.8) and excellent intraobserver reproducibility (r = 0.955).
- Bone and chronological ages matched within a 6-month difference in over 37% of children, comparable to French cohorts.
- A higher proportion of children exhibited delayed bone age compared to their chronological age in the non-matching group.
Conclusions:
- The Sauvegrain method is a useful and accurate tool for bone age estimation in Indian children.
- This method aids clinicians in identifying chronological-radiological age mismatches prior to guided growth or epiphysiodesis.
- The findings support the applicability of the Sauvegrain method in diverse pediatric populations.
Introduction:
Bone age estimation is very useful in children undergoing epiphysiodesis or guided growth surgery especially during the years of accelerated growth. It may be noted that no data are available on bone age estimation for Indian children of this age group. Sauvegrain (French) method is a very useful and simple method for bone age assessment during the years of accelerated growth. We decided to check the usefulness and the accuracy of the Sauvegrain method in Indian children.
Materials And Methods:
A team of two pediatric orthopaedic surgeons and a radiologist scored elbow X-rays of 80 healthy children (40 boys and 40 girls), using the Sauvegrain method twice. Interobserver reliability and intraobserver reproducibility of the Sauvegrain scoring were assessed.
Results:
There was a very strong correlation between all observers in both rounds (r = > 0.8) and an excellent reproducibility by the same observer in both rounds (r = 0.955). Chronological and bone age are considered the same if the difference between them is less than 6 months. With this criterion bone and chronological ages matched in > 37% of boys and girls, similar to the study done in French children. In the nonmatching group, more children had delayed bone age compared to their chronological age.
Conclusion:
The Sauvegrain method of bone age assessment described for French children was found to be useful in estimating bone age in Indian children. It is especially helpful in the clinical practice for detecting mismatch between the chronological and the radiological age before undertaking guided growth or epiphysiodesis.
