Interobserver reliability in the interpretation of diagnostic lumbar MRI and nuclear imaging

Assessment of patients with complaints of low back or leg pain varies with the subspecialty of the treating physician. The evaluation of the spine patient may include magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), bone scan, or single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging. The interpretation of the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The spine journal 2006-03, Vol.6 (2), p.177-184
Main Authors: Mulconrey, Daniel S., Knight, Reginald Q., Bramble, James D., Paknikar, Subhash, Harty, Patrick A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bone and Bones - physiology
Humans
Interobserver variability
Low Back Pain - diagnosis
Low Back Pain - physiopathology
Lumbar spine
Lumbar Vertebrae - pathology
Magnetic Resonance Imaging - statistics & numerical data
Modic changes
MRI
Nuclear imaging
Observer Variation
Reproducibility of Results
Retrospective Studies
Sciatica - diagnosis
Sciatica - physiopathology
SPECT scan
Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon - statistics & numerical data
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Summary:Assessment of patients with complaints of low back or leg pain varies with the subspecialty of the treating physician. The evaluation of the spine patient may include magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), bone scan, or single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging. The interpretation of these tests and the examiner's biases will impact the outcome of patient treatment and the cost to the health-care system. To evaluate interobserver reliability of MRI and nuclear imaging studies and determine the predictability of nuclear medicine results based upon MRI findings. Retrospective radiographic review for patients with low back pain. MRI, planar bone scan imaging, and SPECT imaging techniques were evaluated. Seventeen patients (80 lumbar levels) who presented to an orthopedic spine specialist with a complaint of mechanical low back or leg pain were randomly selected. Inclusion criteria were age greater than 21 years and a workup that included MRI, bone scan, and SPECT scan images. Interobserver reliability was determined using kappa values (0.6 to
ISSN:1529-9430
1878-1632
DOI:10.1016/j.spinee.2005.08.011