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European Radiology
Published in: European Radiology 3/2015

01-03-2015 | Musculoskeletal

Semiautomatic superimposition improves radiological assessment of curve flexibility in scoliosis

Authors: Nadja A. Farshad-Amacker, T. D. Nguyen, M. Farshad, G. Andreisek, K. Min, T. Frauenfelder

Published in: European Radiology | Issue 3/2015

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Abstract

Objective

Assessment of scoliotic curve flexibility and stiffness is essential for planning surgical treatment in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). Measurement of curve flexibility is currently insufficiently precise. The purpose of this study was to introduce and validate a novel method of superimposing radiographs for more reliable measurement of curve flexibility.

Material and methods

Two independent radiologists measured Cobb angles separately on standard anterior-posterior (AP) (n = 48) and supine bending radiographs (n = 48), in patients with AIS, who were randomly included from a surgical database. The same readers repeated the measurements after the bending radiographs were semi-automatically superimposed on the AP radiographs by fusing the caudad end vertebra. Curve flexibility was calculated. Inter-reader agreement between the two independent readers was calculated using interclass correlation coefficient (ICC).

Results

A moderate inter-reader agreement was achieved in the upper curve (ICC = 0.57) and a good agreement in the lower curve (ICC = 0.72) with the standard method of assessing curve flexibility. With the use of the semiautomatic superimposition, however, almost perfect agreement was achieved for both the upper and the lower curves flexibilities (ICC = 0.93 and 0.97, respectively).

Conclusion

The introduced semi-automatic superimposition technique for measurement of scoliotic curve flexibility in AIS is more precise and reliable than the current standard method.

Key Points

• A technique using semiautomatic superimposition of anterior-posterior and bending radiographs is introduced
• Almost perfect agreement was achieved for scoliotic curves flexibilities measurements
• This method is more precise and reliable than the current standard method
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Metadata
Title
Semiautomatic superimposition improves radiological assessment of curve flexibility in scoliosis
Authors
Nadja A. Farshad-Amacker
T. D. Nguyen
M. Farshad
G. Andreisek
K. Min
T. Frauenfelder
Publication date
01-03-2015
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
European Radiology / Issue 3/2015
Print ISSN: 0938-7994
Electronic ISSN: 1432-1084
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-014-3433-1

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