Open AccessA Healthcare Physician Can Be Trained to Perform Intestinal Ultrasound in Children With Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Author(s) -
Wassenaer Elsa A.,
Rijn Rick R.,
Voogd Floris A.E.,
Noels Floor L.,
Deurloo Eline E.,
Schuppen Joost,
Verbeke Jonathan I.M.L.,
Gecse Krisztina B.,
D'Haens Geert R.,
Benninga Marc A.,
Koot Bart G.P.
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
journal of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.206
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1536-4801
pISSN - 0277-2116
DOI - 10.1097/mpg.0000000000003442
Subject(s) - medicine , interquartile range , colonoscopy , inflammatory bowel disease , health care , crohn's disease , disease , radiology , colorectal cancer , cancer , economics , economic growth
Objectives: Training healthcare physicians to perform intestinal ultrasound (IUS) during outpatient visits with equal accuracy as radiologists could improve clinical management of IBD patients. We aimed to assess whether a healthcare‐physician can be trained to perform IUS, with equal accuracy compared with experienced radiologists in children with iBD, and to assess inter‐observer agreement. Methods: Consecutive children, 6 to 18 years with IBD or suspicion of IBD, who underwent ileo‐colonoscopy were enrolled. iUS was performed independently by a trained healthcare‐physician and a radiologist in 1 visit. Training existed of an international training curriculum for IUS. Operators were blinded for each other's IUS, and for the ileocolonoscopy. Difference in accuracy of IUS by the healthcare‐physician and radiologist was assessed using areas under the ROC curve (AUROC). Inter‐observer variability was assessed in terminal ileum (TI), transverse colon (TC) and descending‐colon (DC), for disease activity (ie, bowel wall thickness [BWT] >2 mm with hyperaemia or fat‐proliferation, or BWT >3 mm). Results: We included 73 patients (median age 15, interquartile range [IQR]:13–17, 37 [51%] female, 43 [58%] with Crohn disease). AUROC ranged between 0.71 and 0.81 for the healthcare‐physician and between 0.67 and 0.79 for radiologist ( P > 0.05). Inter‐observer agreement for disease activity per segment was moderate (K: 0.58 [SE: 0.09], 0.49 [SE: 0.12], 0.52 [SE: 0.11] respectively for TI, TC, and DC). Conclusions: A healthcare‐ physician can be trained to perform IUS in children with IBD with comparable diagnostic accuracy as experienced radiologists. The interobserver agreement is moderate. Our findings support the usage of IUS in clinical management of children with IBD.