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Reliability of a Novel Ultrasound Transducer Holder for Flow‐Mediated Dilation
Author(s) -
Rodriguez Lisa A.,
Morales-Acuna Francisco,
Aguilera Juan,
Gurovich Alvaro N.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.2020.34.s1.04436
Subject(s) - intraclass correlation , reproducibility , intra rater reliability , brachial artery , transducer , ultrasound , medicine , reliability (semiconductor) , coefficient of variation , biomedical engineering , radiology , blood pressure , mathematics , acoustics , statistics , confidence interval , power (physics) , physics , quantum mechanics
Background Flow‐mediated dilation (FMD) is the most common test to evaluate endothelial function. Although efforts have been made to incorporate FMD in clinical settings, guidelines still do not advocate for its use because the wide variability on results among testers. Strategies to overcome this problematic scenario include the use of transducer holders to increase the reproducibility on image acquisition. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to test the reliability of a novel ultrasound (US) transducer holder for brachial FMD. Methods Using 3D printing technology, an arm US transducer holder was created to assist the assessment of the vasculature via US imaging during FMD. A total of 15 young healthy subjects were evaluated for Intrarater and Interrater FMD reliability. Statistical analysis included Coefficient of Variation (CV) and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC). Based on the CV, reproducibility was categorized as excellent (0–10%), good (10–20%), moderate (20–30%), or poor (>30%). Regarding ICC, reproducibility was catalogued as poor (>0.5), moderate (0.5–0.75), good (0.75–0.9), and excellent (>0.90). Results The baseline and peak after deflation artery diameter images were analyzed using an automatic edge detection software. The following data was collected: The results in table 1 show that the degree of reliability for an arm US transducer holder during FMD, between and within raters using artery diameter, %FMD, and delta‐FMD as markers, is excellent. The CV for all categories within the inter‐ and intrarater were under 7%, which supports achieving inter‐ and intrarater reliability. The ICC for all categories, with the exception of one, was 90% or better, this shows that the reproducibility of the holder was catalogued as excellent. The Interrater ICC for one category, delta‐FMD, was rated good at 0.89. Conclusion Excellent reliability was achieved with interrater and intrarater FMD using the arm US transducer holder device. This holder has the ability to improve the results of this type of noninvasive endothelial function testing.Analyzed data collected during FMDReliability Test Baseline Artery Diameter Peak Artery Diameter %FMD Delta‐FMDIntrarater CV (%)0.26 (0.39) 0.40 (0.42) 6.44 (6.1) 6.27 (6.09)Interrater CV (%)0.23 (0.16) 0.52 (0.38) 5.75 (5.29) 5.82 (5.39)Intrarater ICC0.99 0.99 0.97 0.95Interrater ICC0.97 0.96 0.97 0.89