We found a match
Your institution may have rights to this item. Sign in to continue.
- Title
A Reliability Study: Strong Inter-Observer Agreement of an Expert Panel for Intestinal Ultrasound in Ulcerative Colitis.
- Authors
Voogd, Floris De; Wilkens, Rune; Gecse, Krisztina; Allocca, Mariangela; Novak, Kerri; Lu, Cathy; D'Haens, Geert; Maaser, Christian
- Abstract
Background Intestinal ultrasound [IUS] is a promising and non-invasive cross-sectional imaging modality in the diagnosis and monitoring of ulcerative colitis [UC]. Unlike endoscopy, where standardized scoring for evaluation of disease activity is widely used, scoring for UC with IUS is currently unavailable. Therefore, we conducted a study to assess the reliability of IUS in UC among expert sonographists in order to identify robust parameters. Methods Thirty patients with both clinically active [25] and quiescent [five] UC were included. Six expert sonographers first agreed upon key IUS parameters and grading, including bowel wall thickness [BWT], colour Doppler signal [CDS], inflammatory fat [i-fat], loss of bowel wall stratification [BWS], loss of haustrations and presence of lymph nodes. Thirty video-recorded cases were blindly reviewed. Results Inter-observer agreement was almost perfect for BWT (intra-class correlation coefficient [ICC]: 0.96) and substantial for CDS [κ = 0.63]. Agreement was moderate for presence of lymph nodes [κ = 0.41] and fair for presence of i-fat [κ = 0.36], BWS [κ = 0.24] and loss of haustrations [κ = 0.26]. Furthermore, there was substantial agreement for presence of disease activity on IUS [κ = 0.77] and almost perfect agreement for disease severity [ICC: 0.93]. Most individual parameters showed a strong association with IUS disease activity as measured by the six readers. Conclusion IUS is a reliable imaging modality to assess disease activity and severity in UC. Important individual parameters such as BWT and CDS are reliable and could be incorporated in a future UC scoring index. Standardized acquisition and assessment of UC utilizing IUS with established reliability is important to expand the use of IUS globally.
- Publication
Journal of Crohn's & Colitis, 2021, Vol 15, Issue 8, p1284
- ISSN
1873-9946
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/ecco-jcc/jjaa267