Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, California.
Stanford University, Stanford, California.
Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2020 Aug;72(8):1177-1184. doi: 10.1002/acr.24005. Epub 2020 Jul 8.
European rheumatology and radiology-determined standards have largely driven the execution of ultrasound in rheumatology (RhUS). How this translates to American rheumatologic practice has not been examined. A rheumatology-driven consensus on documentation, scanning conventions, and tiered-mastery designation for anatomic region views was developed in 2011 and served as the framework for training and clinical research validation. The present study was undertaken to update this consensus to reflect current utilization of musculoskeletal RhUS evaluation in the US.
A 3-round Delphi method study was conducted using a 96-item questionnaire sent via Qualtrics survey software to 101 respondents experienced in RhUS education and scholarship. The target participant number was 38. High agreement was defined as ≥85% agreement on each item. McNemar's chi-square test was used to analyze changes in agreement in the responses. Comments were reviewed for content analysis.
A total of 46 respondents completed all 3 rounds. Of documentation and scanning convention statements, 80% and 100%, respectively, reached high agreement. Comments reflected the need for rheumatology-defined and disease-specific complete scan and limited scan definitions, separate from radiology-defined definitions.
Many scanning conventions from 2011 remain relevant in current practice. There is a need to determine rheumatology-defined descriptions for common procedural terminology codes for complete and limited scans that accurately reflect the current state of RhUS.
欧洲风湿病学和放射学标准在很大程度上推动了风湿病学超声检查（RhUS）的执行。这些标准如何转化为美国风湿病学实践尚未得到检验。2011 年，风湿病学领域就文档记录、扫描规范以及解剖区域视图的分层掌握标准达成了共识，该共识为培训和临床研究验证提供了框架。本研究旨在更新该共识，以反映当前美国在肌肉骨骼 RhUS 评估中的应用。
采用德尔菲法，通过 Qualtrics 调查软件向 101 名具有 RhUS 教育和学术背景的受访者发送了一份包含 96 个项目的问卷，进行了 3 轮调查。目标参与者人数为 38 人。高一致性定义为每个项目的一致性≥85%。采用 McNemar 卡方检验分析各轮应答变化的一致性。对评论进行内容分析。
共有 46 名受访者完成了全部 3 轮调查。在文档记录和扫描规范陈述方面，分别有 80%和 100%达到了高一致性。评论反映了需要为风湿病学定义和疾病特异性的完整扫描和有限扫描定义，与放射学定义的定义分开。
2011 年的许多扫描规范在当前实践中仍然适用。需要确定为完整和有限扫描定义的常见程序术语代码的风湿病学定义描述，以准确反映当前 RhUS 的状态。
