The reproducibility of measuring maximum abdominal aortic aneurysm diameter from ultrasound images.
Ultrasound J
; 13(1): 13, 2021 Feb 26.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33646456
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Accurate repeat assessment of the diameter of an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is important. This study investigated the reproducibility of different methods of measuring AAA diameter from ultrasound images.METHODS:
Fifty AAA patients were assessed by ultrasound. Maximum AAA diameter was measured independently by three trained observers on two separate occasions using a standardised protocol. Five diameters were measured from each scan, three in the anterior-posterior (AP) and two in the transverse (TV) plane, including inner-to-inner (ITI), outer-to-outer (OTO) and leading edge-to-leading edge (LETLE). Intra- and inter-observer reproducibility were reported as reproducibility coefficients. Statistical comparison of methods was performed using linear mixed effects models.RESULTS:
Intra-observer reproducibility coefficients (AP LETLE 2.2 mm; AP ITI 2.4 mm; AP OTO 2.6 mm) were smaller than inter-observer reproducibility coefficients (AP LETLE 4.6 mm AP ITI 4.5; and AP OTO 4.8 mm). There was no statistically significant difference in intra-observer reproducibility of three types of measurements performed in the AP plane. Measurements obtained in the TV plane had statistically significant worse intra-observer reproducibility than those performed in the AP plane.CONCLUSIONS:
This study suggests that the comparison of maximum AAA diameter between repeat images is most reproducibly performed by a single trained observer measuring diameters in the AP plane.
Full text:
1
Database:
MEDLINE
Language:
En
Journal:
Ultrasound J
Year:
2021
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Australia