학술논문
Reliability assessment of ultrasound muscle echogenicity in patients with rheumatic diseases: Results of a multicenter international web-based study
Document Type
article
Author
Andrea Di Matteo; Erica Moscioni; Maria Giovanna Lommano; Edoardo Cipolletta; Gianluca Smerilli; Sonia Farah; Carla Airoldi; Sibel Zehra Aydin; Andrea Becciolini; Karina Bonfiglioli; Marina Carotti; Greta Carrara; Tomas Cazenave; Davide Corradini; Micaela Ana Cosatti; Juan Josè de Agustin; Giulia Maria Destro Castaniti; Marco Di Carlo; Eleonora Di Donato; Luca Di Geso; Ashley Elliott; Daniela Fodor; Francesca Francioso; Alessandra Gabba; Cristina Hernández-Díaz; Rudolf Horvath; Jana Hurnakova; Diogo Jesus; Josefina Marin; Maria Victoria Martire; Riccardo Mashadi Mirza; Marco Massarotti; Alice Andreea Musca; Jagdish Nair; Tadashi Okano; Ioannis Papalopoulos; Javier Rosa; Marcos Rosemffet; João Rovisco; Davide Rozza; Fausto Salaffi; Crescenzio Scioscia; Carlo Alberto Scirè; Maria-Magdalena Tamas; Shun Tanimura; Lucio Ventura-Rios; Catalina Villota-Eraso; Orlando Villota; Paraskevi V. Voulgari; Florentin Ananu Vreju; Gentiana Vukatana; Johana Zacariaz Hereter; Anna Zanetti; Walter Grassi; Emilio Filippucci
Source
Frontiers in Medicine, Vol 9 (2023)
Subject
Language
English
ISSN
2296-858X
Abstract
ObjectivesTo investigate the inter/intra-reliability of ultrasound (US) muscle echogenicity in patients with rheumatic diseases.MethodsForty-two rheumatologists and 2 radiologists from 13 countries were asked to assess US muscle echogenicity of quadriceps muscle in 80 static images and 20 clips from 64 patients with different rheumatic diseases and 8 healthy subjects. Two visual scales were evaluated, a visual semi-quantitative scale (0–3) and a continuous quantitative measurement (“VAS echogenicity,” 0–100). The same assessment was repeated to calculate intra-observer reliability. US muscle echogenicity was also calculated by an independent research assistant using a software for the analysis of scientific images (ImageJ). Inter and intra reliabilities were assessed by means of prevalence-adjusted bias-adjusted Kappa (PABAK), intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and correlations through Kendall’s Tau and Pearson’s Rho coefficients.ResultsThe semi-quantitative scale showed a moderate inter-reliability [PABAK = 0.58 (0.57–0.59)] and a substantial intra-reliability [PABAK = 0.71 (0.68–0.73)]. The lowest inter and intra-reliability results were obtained for the intermediate grades (i.e., grade 1 and 2) of the semi-quantitative scale. “VAS echogenicity” showed a high reliability both in the inter-observer [ICC = 0.80 (0.75–0.85)] and intra-observer [ICC = 0.88 (0.88–0.89)] evaluations. A substantial association was found between the participants assessment of the semi-quantitative scale and “VAS echogenicity” [ICC = 0.52 (0.50–0.54)]. The correlation between these two visual scales and ImageJ analysis was high (tau = 0.76 and rho = 0.89, respectively).ConclusionThe results of this large, multicenter study highlighted the overall good inter and intra-reliability of the US assessment of muscle echogenicity in patients with different rheumatic diseases.