TY - JOUR
T1 - Interobserver Agreement in Diagnosing Liver Involvement in Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia by Doppler Ultrasound
AU - Buscarini, Elisabetta
AU - Gebel, Michael
AU - Ocran, Kenneth
AU - Manfredi, Guido
AU - Del Vecchio Blanco, Giovanna
AU - Stefanov, Rumen
AU - Olivieri, Carla
AU - Danesino, Cesare
AU - Zambelli, Alessandro
PY - 2008/5
Y1 - 2008/5
N2 - The purpose was to evaluate interobserver agreement on Doppler ultrasonographic (US) diagnosis of liver vascular malformations (VMs) in hereditary hemorrhagic teleangiectasia (HHT) and on their severity grading. During the interobserver agreement study, three observers with at least seven years of specific experience using Doppler US for the diagnosis of liver VMs, judged about the presence/absence of liver VMs and their severity on a set of images and videoclips. Interobserver agreement was estimated with κ statistics. One-hundred ten cases were reviewed during interobserver study (80 cases with liver VMs, 30 without). Very good κ values of the interobserver agreement were found for all pairs concerning the distinction between presence and absence of hepatic VMs. All observers demonstrated excellent sensitivity and specificity in identifying hepatic VMs, with their respective areas under the curve ranging from 0.97 to 0.99. Interobserver agreement among the three investigators in staging the hepatic VMs in HHT patients was moderate (Kendall's coefficient of concordance = 0.26). Study results indicate that Doppler US diagnosis of liver VMs in HHT has a high degree of agreement among ultrasonographers; a moderate agreement was found regarding severity staging. (E-mail: ebuscarini@rim.it).
AB - The purpose was to evaluate interobserver agreement on Doppler ultrasonographic (US) diagnosis of liver vascular malformations (VMs) in hereditary hemorrhagic teleangiectasia (HHT) and on their severity grading. During the interobserver agreement study, three observers with at least seven years of specific experience using Doppler US for the diagnosis of liver VMs, judged about the presence/absence of liver VMs and their severity on a set of images and videoclips. Interobserver agreement was estimated with κ statistics. One-hundred ten cases were reviewed during interobserver study (80 cases with liver VMs, 30 without). Very good κ values of the interobserver agreement were found for all pairs concerning the distinction between presence and absence of hepatic VMs. All observers demonstrated excellent sensitivity and specificity in identifying hepatic VMs, with their respective areas under the curve ranging from 0.97 to 0.99. Interobserver agreement among the three investigators in staging the hepatic VMs in HHT patients was moderate (Kendall's coefficient of concordance = 0.26). Study results indicate that Doppler US diagnosis of liver VMs in HHT has a high degree of agreement among ultrasonographers; a moderate agreement was found regarding severity staging. (E-mail: ebuscarini@rim.it).
KW - Doppler ultrasonography
KW - Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia
KW - Interobserver agreement
KW - Liver
KW - Vascular malformations
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=42949164391&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=42949164391&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2007.11.007
DO - 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2007.11.007
M3 - Article
C2 - 18207308
AN - SCOPUS:42949164391
VL - 34
SP - 718
EP - 725
JO - Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology
JF - Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology
SN - 0301-5629
IS - 5
ER -