{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,18]],"date-time":"2026-09-18T17:41:46Z","timestamp":1789753306944,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,2]],"date-time":"2024-01-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1704153600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000272","name":"National Institute for Health and Care Research","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["II-LB-0814-20002"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["II-LB-0814-20002"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000272","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000272","name":"National Institute for Health and Care Research","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["NIHR200014"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NIHR200014"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000272","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Ministry Of Health, Civil Service Commission, Kuwait.","award":["PhD scholarship"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PhD scholarship"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Recent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies showed that colonic volumes in children are different between health and functional constipation. The length of the colon has however been rarely measured and principally using unphysiological colon preparations or cadaver studies. The main objective of this study was to measure the length of the undisturbed colon in children with functional constipation (FC) and healthy controls. Here, the colon of 19 healthy controls (10\u201318 years old) and 16 children with FC (7\u201318 years old) was imaged using MRI. Different regions of the colon (ascending, transverse, descending, and sigmoid-rectum) were first segmented manually on the MRI images. Three-dimensional skeletonization image analysis methods were then used to reduce the regions of interest to a central, measurable line. Total colon length (corrected for body surface area) in healthy controls was 56\u00b12 cm\/m<jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup> (mean\u00b1SEM). Total colon length was significantly longer in children with FC 69\u00b13 cm\/m<jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup> compared to controls (p = 0.0037). The colon regions showing the largest differences between groups were the ascending colon (p = 0.0479) and the sigmoid-rectum (p = 0.0003). In a linear regression model, there was a positive significant correlation between total colon length and age (R = 0.45, p = 0.0064), height (R = 0.49, p = 0.0031), weight (R = 0.46, p = 0.0059) and colon volume (R = 0.4543, p = 0.0061). Our findings showed significant differences in colon lengths between healthy controls and children with constipation. A new objective diagnostic imaging endpoint such as colon length may help to improve knowledge of colon morphology and function and, in turn, understanding of colon functional pathology.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0296311","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,2]],"date-time":"2024-01-02T19:00:18Z","timestamp":1704222018000},"page":"e0296311","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Colon length in pediatric health and constipation measured using magnetic resonance imaging and three dimensional skeletonization"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"19","author":[{"given":"Hayfa","family":"Sharif","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Caroline 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