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Interobserver and intraobserver variability of measurements of uveal melanomas using standardised echography
C Haritoglou1, A S Neubauer, H Herzum
1Department of Ophthalmology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany. Christos.Haritoglou@ak-i.med.uni-muenchen.de
Aims:
To report on the intraindividual and interindividual variability of tumour size (height and base diameter) measurements using standardised echography in a masked prospective study.
Methods:
20 consecutive eyes of 20 patients were examined on four different visits by three experienced examiners using standardised echography. As common in standardised echography, tumour height was evaluated with A-scan technique, while transverse and longitudinal base diameter were calculated with B-scan.
Results:
Tumour height measurements using A-scan were more accurate than base diameter measurements using B-scan. The standard deviation for tumour height over all visits/measurements was 0.18 mm (A-scan), 0.79 mm for transverse, and 0.69 mm for longitudinal base diameters (B-scan). The interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was much higher for tumour height measurements with A-scan (0.7735 for three examiners on one visit) than for transverse (0.6563) or longitudinal (0.4522) base diameter measurements with B-scan techniques.
Conclusions:
A-scan techniques for tumour height measurements provide very reproducible results with little intraindividual and interobserver variability. As B-scan techniques for tumour base evaluation are less accurate they should be used for topographic and morphological examinations.