Post-processing reproducibility of the structural characteristics of the common carotid artery in a Flemish population

Ljupcho Efremov; Wen-Yi Yang; Lotte Jacobs; Lutgarde Thijs; Tatiana Kuznetsova; Harry A.J. Struijker-Boudier; Jan A. Staessen

doi:10.1016/j.artres.2017.04.007

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Volume 19, Issue C, September 2017, Pages 9 - 17

Post-processing reproducibility of the structural characteristics of the common carotid artery in a Flemish population

Authors

Ljupcho Efremov^a, Wen-Yi Yang^a, Lotte Jacobs^a, Lutgarde Thijs^a, Tatiana Kuznetsova^a, Harry A.J. Struijker-Boudier^b, Jan A. Staessen^a^{, c}^{, *}

^aStudies Coordinating Centre, Research Unit of Hypertension and Cardiovascular Epidemiology, KU Leuven Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

^bDepartment of Pharmacology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

^cR & D Group VitaK, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

^*Corresponding author. Studies Coordinating Centre, Research Unit Hypertension and Cardiovascular Epidemiology, KU Leuven Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Leuven, Campus Sint Rafaël, Kapucijnenvoer 35, Block D, Box 7001, BE-3000 Leuven, Belgium. Fax: +32 16 34 7106 (office), +32 15 41 4542 (home). E-mail addresses: jan.staessen@med.kuleuven.be, ja.staessen@maastrichtuniversity.nl (J.A. Staessen).

Corresponding Author

Jan A. Staessen

Received 12 December 2016, Revised 28 February 2017, Accepted 26 April 2017, Available Online 16 May 2017.

DOI: 10.1016/j.artres.2017.04.007 How to use a DOI?
Keywords: Reproducibility study; Carotid artery; Intima-media thickness; Carotid plaques
Abstract: Introduction: Common carotid artery (CCA) intima-media thickness (IMT), lumen diameter, and maximum plaque thickness were assessed on ultrasound images. The objective of the study was to evaluate the intra- and inter-reader reproducibility of the measurements following a standardised protocol.

Methods: Two readers performed the off-line measurements on B-mode ultrasound images of the distal CCA, in a randomly selected subset (n = 60) from a Flemish population cohort (FLEMENGHO). We calculated the coefficient of variation, the interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and reproducibility according to the Bland–Altman method.

Results: The intra-reader bias for the measurements of left and right side CCA IMT were −0.003 ± 0.04 mm (p = 0.55) and 0.01 ± 0.04 mm (p = 0.03), respectively. The intra-reader bias of the lumen diameter was −0.04 ± 0.25 mm (p = 0.27) for the left and 0.02 ± 0.22 mm (p = 0.45) for the right side. The measurements for the maximum plaque thickness showed no intra-reader differences with bias 0.07 ± 0.2 mm (p = 0.26) for the left and −0.03 ± 0.2 mm (p = 0.55) for the right side. The inter-reader analysis showed good reproducibility for the left and right side CCA IMT with bias 0.004 ± 0.06 mm (p = 0.57) and −0.008 ± 0.05 mm (p = 0.19), respectively, but the lumen diameter measurements showed inter-reader differences, with bias 0.17 ± 0.27 mm (p < 0.0001) for the left and 0.10 ± 0.21 mm (p = 0.0006) for the right side. The inter-reader bias for the maximum plaque thickness were 0.07 ± 0.2 mm (p = 0.21) and −0.1 ± 0.4 mm (p = 0.26) for the left and right side, respectively.

Conclusion: The results demonstrated a reliable reproducibility of carotid wall structural measurements, allowing for an adequate further analysis of the entire population cohort.
Open Access: This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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Journal: Artery Research
Volume-Issue: 19 - C
Pages: 9 - 17
Publication Date: 2017/05/16
ISSN (Online): 1876-4401
ISSN (Print): 1872-9312
DOI: 10.1016/j.artres.2017.04.007 How to use a DOI?
Open Access: This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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ris enw bib

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Ljupcho Efremov
AU  - Wen-Yi Yang
AU  - Lotte Jacobs
AU  - Lutgarde Thijs
AU  - Tatiana Kuznetsova
AU  - Harry A.J. Struijker-Boudier
AU  - Jan A. Staessen
PY  - 2017
DA  - 2017/05/16
TI  - Post-processing reproducibility of the structural characteristics of the common carotid artery in a Flemish population
JO  - Artery Research
SP  - 9
EP  - 17
VL  - 19
IS  - C
SN  - 1876-4401
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.artres.2017.04.007
DO  - 10.1016/j.artres.2017.04.007
ID  - Efremov2017
ER  -

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