Sanderson Jennifer, Wu Linda, Mahajan Aditi, Meriki Neama, Henry Amanda, Welsh Alec W
Department of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, School of Women's & Children's Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Ultrasound Med Biol. 2014 Mar;40(3):562-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2013.09.004. Epub 2013 Dec 19.
This study was aimed at assessing the intra-observer and inter-observer repeatability of selecting the sub-noise gain (SNG) level when acquiring placental volumes with 3-D power Doppler for analysis using virtual organ computer-aided analysis (VOCAL). Sixty women with uncomplicated singleton pregnancies between 20 and 38 wk of gestation were recruited. Two women were excluded for flash artifact noted during image analysis. Two blinded observers independently adjusted gain to their perceived SNG level before acquiring a static 3-D volume of the placenta at the cord insertion; observers alternated after each acquisition until each had acquired two volumes. A single observer operated the probe at all times. During offline analysis, SNG levels were recorded and VOCAL indices were calculated. SNG exhibited excellent intra-observer and inter-observer reliability. Intra-observer intra-class correlation coefficients (95% confidence intervals) were 0.98 (0.97-0.99) and 0.98 (0.98-0.99) for observers 1 and 2, respectively. The inter-observer intra-class correlation coefficient was 0.96 (0.93-0.98). Despite its perceived inherent subjectivity, the excellent intra-class correlation coefficients obtained in this study support SNG as a promising tool for future research using 3-D power Doppler.
本研究旨在评估在使用虚拟器官计算机辅助分析(VOCAL)对胎盘容积进行三维能量多普勒采集以进行分析时,观察者内和观察者间选择亚噪声增益(SNG)水平的重复性。招募了60例妊娠20至38周的单胎妊娠无并发症的妇女。两名妇女因图像分析时发现闪烁伪像而被排除。两名不知情的观察者在获取脐带插入处胎盘的静态三维容积之前,各自独立地将增益调整到他们所认为的SNG水平;每次采集后观察者交替进行,直到每人采集到两个容积。始终由一名观察者操作探头。在离线分析期间,记录SNG水平并计算VOCAL指数。SNG表现出极好的观察者内和观察者间可靠性。观察者1和观察者2的观察者内组内相关系数(95%置信区间)分别为0.98(0.97 - 0.99)和0.98(0.98 - 0.99)。观察者间组内相关系数为0.96(0.93 - 0.98)。尽管其存在固有的主观性,但本研究中获得的出色组内相关系数支持SNG作为未来使用三维能量多普勒进行研究的一种有前景的工具。