Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the inter-observer reliability of ultrasound (US) measurement in volume and volume reduction rate (VRR) of benign thyroid nodules during the follow-up of radiofrequency ablation (RFA).

Materials

This retrospective study evaluated 76 patients with 88 benign thyroid nodules who underwent RFA. Two independent observers performed the US measurements during the same follow-up visit. The Bland–Altman analysis was used to evaluate the inter-observer reliability of volume and VRR (logarithmic transformation). The mean difference and 95% limits-of-agreement (LOA) were obtained after antilogarithm.

Results

No significant differences were found in the volume and VRR measurements during a mean follow-up time of 35.52 ± 12.82 months. After antilogarithms, the mean difference of volume was 0.9961, 0.9987, 1.0016, 0.9972, 0.9977 and 0.9969 at 1, 3, 6, 12, 24 and 36 months, respectively. The 95% LOA of volume became wider over the follow-up period, and the largest one was between 0.8471 and 1.1733 at 36 months. The 95% LOA of VRR became narrower over the follow-up period, and the largest one was between 0.9541 and 1.0469 at 1 month. The incidence of regrowth was 20.45% and the largest 95% LOA of regrowth nodules was between 0.9028 and 1.284 at 12 months. At the same follow-up period, VRR had a narrower 95% LOA than volume. Compared with volume ≥10 ml, nodules <10 ml revealed a larger 95% LOA in both the volume and VRR.

Conclusion

The inter-observer reliability of the US measurements of benign thyroid nodules during the follow-up period of RFA was acceptable. The variation by different observers could not affect the evaluation of efficacy.

中文翻译：

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射频消融随访中超声检查良性甲状腺结节的观察者间可靠性：回顾性研究

摘要

目的

在射频消融（RFA）随访期间，研究超声（US）测量对甲状腺良性结节的体积和体积缩小率（VRR）的观察者间可靠性。

用料

这项回顾性研究评估了76例接受RFA的88例甲状腺良性结节患者。两名独立观察员在同一次随访中进行了美国测量。Bland–Altman分析用于评估观察者之间的音量和VRR（对数变换）的可靠性。抗对数后获得平均差异和95％的协议限制（LOA）。

结果

平均随访时间为35.52±12.82个月，在体积和VRR测量中没有发现显着差异。抗对数后，在1、3、6、12、24和36个月时，体积的平均差异分别为0.9961、0.9987、1.0016、0.9972、0.9977和0.9969。随访期间95％的LOA范围变得更广，最大的LOA在36个月时介于0.8471和1.1733之间。在随访期间，VRR的95％LOA变窄，最大的LOA在1个月时在0.9541至1.0469之间。在12个月时，再生长的发生率为20.45％，最大95％的再生节结LOA在0.9028至1.284之间。在相同的随访期间，VRR的LOA比交易量窄95％。与≥10ml的体积相比，结节<10 ml的体积和VRR均显示出较大的95％LOA。

结论

在RFA随访期间，美国对甲状腺良性结节的测量在观察者间的可靠性是可以接受的。不同观察者的差异不会影响疗效评估。