Purpose
Color-Doppler ultrasonography of supraaortic vessels (US-SV) is a well-documented exam for the study of vascular damage,
especially for those patients who are at high risk of complications.
The ability to evaluate with a non-invasive and easily repeatable exam the intima-media thickness (IMT) allows to identify people at risk even in the asymptomatic population.
The problem of data variability in manual evaluation could be exceeded by the new IMT automatic calculation systems.
The aim is to compare the reproducibility of the data relative to the average...
Methods and Materials
200 patients submitted to US-SV (Samsung RS80) were retrospectively evaluated.
The average IMT of the common carotid have been calculated in three different moments on the same image by a radiologist (R1),
by a second reader (R2) and by the same second reader after 21 days.
This method has been used both for manual and automatic modality.
Results
In the automatic reading,
average IMT,
QI and L were respectively:
· 0,67 ± 0,14 (mean ± standard deviation),
0,85 ± 0,21 and 129,18 ± 67,83 for R1;
· 0,67 ± 0,15,
0,86 ± 0,21 and 113,69 ± 40,61 for R2,
1;
· 0,67 ± 0,14,
0,86 ± 0,23 and 114,87 ± 41,27 for R2,
2.
The intraoperator reproducibility results 76%,
instead the interoperator is 75%.
In the manual reading,
average IMT was:
· 0,74 ± 0,15 for R1;
· 0,76 ± 0,17 for R2,...
Conclusion
The reproducibility of automatic IMT is satisfactory even though the research needs other insights.