Why the study?
Does contrast-enhanced ultrasonography have reliable inter-observer agreement for assessing carotid plaque neovascularization across different plaque thicknesses?
Does contrast-enhanced ultrasonography have reliable inter-observer agreement for assessing carotid plaque neovascularization across different plaque thicknesses?
Contrast-enhanced ultrasonography demonstrates substantial and acceptable inter-observer agreement for assessing carotid plaque neovascularization, regardless of plaque thickness.
CEUS may support reliable carotid plaque neovascularization assessment; leaves open prospective outcome validation before clinical adoption.
BACKGROUND: The interobserver agreement in the assessment of the grade of carotid plaque neovascularization by contrast-enhanced ultrasonography is poorly established. METHOD: 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. RESULTS: 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. CONCLUSION: 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.
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Chen et al. (2018) studied this question.
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