Agreement in measurements of ultrasonography-derived periodontal diagnostic parameters among multiple raters: A diagnostic accuracy study

Jad Majzoub; Lorenzo Tavelli; Shayan Barootchi; Ali Salami; Marita R Inglehart; Oliver D Kripfgans; Hsun-Liang Chan

doi:10.1016/j.oooo.2022.03.010

Agreement in measurements of ultrasonography-derived periodontal diagnostic parameters among multiple raters: A diagnostic accuracy study

Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol. 2022 Sep;134(3):375-385. doi: 10.1016/j.oooo.2022.03.010. Epub 2022 Mar 25.

Authors

Jad Majzoub¹, Lorenzo Tavelli², Shayan Barootchi¹, Ali Salami³, Marita R Inglehart⁴, Oliver D Kripfgans⁵, Hsun-Liang Chan⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine, University of Michigan School of Dentistry, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
² Division of Periodontology, Department of Oral Medicine, Infection and Immunity, Harvard, School of Dental Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
³ Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Sciences, Lebanese University, Nabatieh, Lebanon.
⁴ Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine, University of Michigan School of Dentistry, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Department of Psychology, College of Literature, Science and Arts, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
⁵ Department of Radiology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
⁶ Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine, University of Michigan School of Dentistry, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. Electronic address: Hlchan@umich.edu.

PMID: 35568639
DOI: 10.1016/j.oooo.2022.03.010

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the reproducibility of measurements of ultrasound-derived periodontal diagnostic parameters (PDPs) among raters.

Study design: Periodontists with various degrees of ultrasound experience were invited to measure 3 PDPs: soft tissue height (STH), soft tissue thickness (STT), and crestal bone thickness (CBT) on 37 human periodontal ultrasound scans acquired at the midfacial site of non-molar maxillary teeth. After an online training session and a 2-week calibration exercise, intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were estimated with mixed linear regression models. The interrater mean absolute differences (MADs) were calculated among the raters and between the raters and a reference standard examiner.

Results: Thirteen raters participated in the study. MADs among the 13 raters were 0.18 mm (STH), 0.16 mm (STT), and 0.12 mm (CBT). ICC values for STH, STT, and CBT were 0.83, 0.77, and 0.76, respectively. The MADs between the raters and the reference standard were 0.23 mm (STH), 0.19 mm (STT), and 0.14 mm (CBT). Survey results showed that ultrasound has diagnostic value and is generally easy to learn.

Conclusions: Within the limitations of this study, good agreement was observed among ultrasound learners with various degrees of experience when measuring ultrasound-derived PDPs.

MeSH terms

Humans
Linear Models
Maxilla
Observer Variation
Reproducibility of Results
Tooth* / diagnostic imaging
Ultrasonography