Children's Health Research Centre, The University of Queensland, Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Herston, Queensland, Australia
Centre for Children's Burns and Trauma Research, The University of Queensland, South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
BMJ Open. 2022 Jan 31;12(1):e056720. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-056720.
Ultrasound is a quick, safe, and non-invasive imaging method that can be used to measure skin thickness in pathological cutaneous conditions in clinical and research settings. Despite widespread use, there exists a lack of standardisation and reporting of ultrasound skin thickness measurement methods, which makes between-studies comparisons difficult. To address this, we present a scoping review protocol, which aims to determine what is and is not known about the measurement of skin and scar thickness using ultrasound in people with traumatic scars.
The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines and Joanna Briggs Institute scoping review methodology will be used to guide this review. Electronic database searching will be conducted in Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature and Web of Science. No date limit will be imposed on the database searches. Records will be supplemented with searches of reference lists of included studies and grey literature in OpenGrey and Google Advanced. Screening will be conducted by two independent reviewers, and studies where ultrasound is used to measure skin and scar thickness in people with traumatic scars will be included. Data extraction will include ultrasound methods (eg, transducer orientation), psychometric properties (eg, reliability, measurement error), health service and implementation outcomes (eg, feasibility, acceptability) and factors influencing ultrasound measurement of skin thickness (eg, body location, age).
Ethical approval is not required for this investigation, as published literature will form the basis of the review. The review will be published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal and is expected to result in the development of the first evidence-based and consensus-based methodological guideline for skin thickness measurement by ultrasound.
超声是一种快速、安全、非侵入性的成像方法，可用于在临床和研究环境中测量病理性皮肤状况的皮肤厚度。尽管超声已广泛应用，但在超声皮肤厚度测量方法的标准化和报告方面仍存在不足，这使得研究之间的比较变得困难。为了解决这个问题，我们提出了一个范围综述方案，旨在确定在有创伤性瘢痕的人群中使用超声测量皮肤和瘢痕厚度的方法是什么，以及有哪些方法尚未确定。
将使用《系统评价和荟萃分析扩展的首选报告项目》（Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension）和循证卫生保健中心（Joanna Briggs Institute）范围综述方法来指导本次综述。将在 Ovid MEDLINE、Embase、Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature 和 Web of Science 电子数据库中进行检索。数据库检索将不设时间限制。将通过对纳入研究的参考文献列表和 OpenGrey 和 Google 高级搜索中的灰色文献进行补充检索。将由两名独立评审员进行筛选，纳入使用超声测量有创伤性瘢痕人群的皮肤和瘢痕厚度的研究。数据提取将包括超声方法（例如，换能器方向）、心理测量学特性（例如，可靠性、测量误差）、卫生服务和实施结果（例如，可行性、可接受性）以及影响皮肤厚度超声测量的因素（例如，身体位置、年龄）。
由于本研究仅基于已发表的文献，因此不需要进行伦理审查。综述将发表在同行评议的科学期刊上，并有望制定出第一个基于证据和共识的超声皮肤厚度测量方法的方法学指南。
