TY - JOUR
T1 - Salivary Gland Ultrasonography in Sjögren's Syndrome
T2 - A European Multicenter Reliability Exercise for the HarmonicSS Project
AU - Zabotti, Alen
AU - Zandonella Callegher, Sara
AU - Tullio, Annarita
AU - Vukicevic, Arso
AU - Hocevar, Alojzija
AU - Milic, Vera
AU - Cafaro, Giacomo
AU - Carotti, Marina
AU - Delli, Konstantina
AU - De Lucia, Orazio
AU - Ernst, Diana
AU - Ferro, Francesco
AU - Gattamelata, Angelica
AU - Germanò, Giuseppe
AU - Giovannini, Ivan
AU - Hammenfors, Daniel
AU - Jonsson, Malin V.
AU - Jousse-Joulin, Sandrine
AU - Macchioni, Pierluigi
AU - Parisi, Simone
AU - Perricone, Carlo
AU - Stradner, Martin Helmut
AU - Filipovic, Nenad
AU - Tzioufas, Athanasios G.
AU - Valent, Francesca
AU - De Vita, Salvatore
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding. This study was included in the Workpackage 7 of HarmonicSS, an EU-funded, Horizon 2020 Research Project on SS (European Union grant 731944).
Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright © 2020 Zabotti, Zandonella Callegher, Tullio, Vukicevic, Hocevar, Milic, Cafaro, Carotti, Delli, De Lucia, Ernst, Ferro, Gattamelata, Germanò, Giovannini, Hammenfors, Jonsson, Jousse-Joulin, Macchioni, Parisi, Perricone, Stradner, Filipovic, Tzioufas, Valent and De Vita.
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/11/23
Y1 - 2020/11/23
N2 - Objectives: Salivary gland ultrasonography (SGUS) is increasingly applied for the management of primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS). This study aims to: (i) compare the reliability between two SGUS scores; (ii) test the reliability among sonographers with different levels of experience. Methods: In the reliability exercise, two four-grade semi-quantitative SGUS scoring systems, namely De Vita et al. and OMERACT, were tested. The sonographers involved in work-package 7 of the HarmonicSS project from nine countries in Europe were invited to participate. Different levels of sonographers were identified on the basis of their SGUS experience and of the knowledge of the tested scores. A dedicated atlas was used as support for SGUS scoring. Results: Twenty sonographers participated in the two rounds of the reliability exercise. The intra-rater reliability for both scores was almost perfect, with a Light's kappa of 0.86 for the De Vita et al. score and 0.87 for the OMERACT score. The inter-rater reliability for the De Vita et al. and the OMERACT score was substantial with Light's Kappa of 0.75 and 0.77, respectively. Furthermore, no significant difference was noticed among sonographers with different levels of experience. Conclusion: The two tested SGUS scores are reliable for the evaluation of major salivary glands in pSS, and even less-expert sonographers could be reliable if adequately instructed.
AB - Objectives: Salivary gland ultrasonography (SGUS) is increasingly applied for the management of primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS). This study aims to: (i) compare the reliability between two SGUS scores; (ii) test the reliability among sonographers with different levels of experience. Methods: In the reliability exercise, two four-grade semi-quantitative SGUS scoring systems, namely De Vita et al. and OMERACT, were tested. The sonographers involved in work-package 7 of the HarmonicSS project from nine countries in Europe were invited to participate. Different levels of sonographers were identified on the basis of their SGUS experience and of the knowledge of the tested scores. A dedicated atlas was used as support for SGUS scoring. Results: Twenty sonographers participated in the two rounds of the reliability exercise. The intra-rater reliability for both scores was almost perfect, with a Light's kappa of 0.86 for the De Vita et al. score and 0.87 for the OMERACT score. The inter-rater reliability for the De Vita et al. and the OMERACT score was substantial with Light's Kappa of 0.75 and 0.77, respectively. Furthermore, no significant difference was noticed among sonographers with different levels of experience. Conclusion: The two tested SGUS scores are reliable for the evaluation of major salivary glands in pSS, and even less-expert sonographers could be reliable if adequately instructed.
KW - classification criteria
KW - reliability exercise
KW - salivary gland ultrasonography
KW - scoring system
KW - Sjögren's syndrome
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U2 - 10.3389/fmed.2020.581248
DO - 10.3389/fmed.2020.581248
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85097386670
VL - 7
JO - Frontiers in Medicine
JF - Frontiers in Medicine
SN - 2296-858X
M1 - 581248
ER -