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Reproducibility of Sonographic Measurements of the Median Nerve
Author(s) -
Alemán Luis,
Berná Juan D.,
Reus Manuel,
Martínez Francisco,
Doménech-Ratto Ginés,
Campos Matilde
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of ultrasound in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.574
H-Index - 91
eISSN - 1550-9613
pISSN - 0278-4297
DOI - 10.7863/jum.2008.27.2.193
Subject(s) - medicine , reproducibility , concordance , carpal tunnel syndrome , median nerve , nuclear medicine , ultrasound , radiology , repeatability , surgery , statistics , mathematics
Objective The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reproducibility of median nerve cross‐sectional area (CSA) measurements using the indirect method (ellipsoid formula) and the direct or tracing method. Methods The median nerve CSA was measured in 22 wrists of patients with carpal tunnel syndrome by means of high‐frequency sonography. Measurements were made at the level of the pisiform bone by a standardized sonographic examination protocol. Two observers with different levels of experience performed the measurements, independently and blinded. An analysis of reliability was carried out, and the concordance between the methods was determined with parametric statistical tests. Results The results point to good reproducibility of the median nerve CSA measurements obtained by both methods, whether performed by an experienced observer or by an inexperienced observer after a short learning period. Conclusions The results suggest sonography for median nerve CSA measurements is reproducible by either the direct or indirect method when a standardized sonographic examination protocol is used.