Chen Jian, Zhang Yan-Ming, Song Ze-Zhou, Fu Yan-Fei, Geng Yu
Department of Ultrasound, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Yiwu, China.
Department of Ultrasound, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, and Affiliated People's Hospital of Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, China.
J Clin Ultrasound. 2018 Jul;46(6):403-407. doi: 10.1002/jcu.22595. Epub 2018 Apr 10.
The interobserver agreement in the assessment of the grade of carotid plaque neovascularization by contrast-enhanced ultrasonography is poorly established.
We examined 140 carotid plaques in 66 patients (all patients had bilateral plaques, and 8 patients had 2 plaques on one side). We performed conventional and contrast-enhanced ultrasonography to analyze the presence of carotid plaque neovascularization, which was graded by two independent observers whose interobserver agreement (κ) was evaluated according to the thickness of carotid plaque.
For all carotid plaques, the mean κ was 0.689 (95% confidence interval 0.604-0.774). It was 0.689 (0.569-0.808), 0.637 (0.487-0.787), and 0.740 (0.585-0.896), respectively for carotid plaques with maximal thickness <2 mm, from 2 mm to 3 mm, and >3 mm.
The interobserver agreement for assessing carotid plaque neovascularization by using contrast-enhanced ultrasonography is substantial and acceptable for research purposes, regardless of the maximal thickness of the plaque.
通过超声造影评估颈动脉斑块新生血管化程度时，观察者间的一致性尚未明确。
我们检查了66例患者的140个颈动脉斑块（所有患者均有双侧斑块，8例患者一侧有2个斑块）。我们进行了常规超声和超声造影检查，以分析颈动脉斑块新生血管化的情况，由两名独立观察者对其进行分级，并根据颈动脉斑块厚度评估观察者间的一致性（κ）。
对于所有颈动脉斑块，平均κ为0.689（95%置信区间0.604 - 0.774）。最大厚度<2 mm、2 mm至3 mm、>3 mm的颈动脉斑块，κ分别为0.689（0.569 - 0.808）、0.637（0.487 - 0.787）和0.740（0.585 - 0.896）。
无论斑块的最大厚度如何，通过超声造影评估颈动脉斑块新生血管化时，观察者间的一致性是可观的，对于研究目的而言是可接受的。
