Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29747402›Full record

ReviewDiagnostics (Basel, Switzerland)2018

The Clinical Relevance of Methods for Handling Inconclusive Medical Test Results: Quantification of Uncertainty in Medical Decision-Making and Screening.

Johannes A Landsheer

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland), 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
11citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

11 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Performance of a consensus-based algorithm for diagnosing anastomotic leak after minimally invasive esophagectomy for esophageal cancer.Diseases of the esophagus : official journal of the International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus · 2023
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  6. Machine learning with asymmetric abstention for biomedical decision-making.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2021
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

Johannes A LandsheerDepartment of Methodology and Statistics, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Utrecht University, 3508 TA Utrecht, The Netherlands. j.a.landsheer@uu.nl.ORCID 0000-0001-5117-7031

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundalthough the existence of inconclusive medical test results or bio-markers is widely recognized, there are indications that this inherent diagnostic uncertainty is sometimes ignored. This paper discusses three methods for defining and determining inconclusive medical test results, which use different definitions and differ in clinical relevance.

methodsthe TG-ROC (two graphs receiver operating characteristics) method is the easiest to use, while the grey zone method and the uncertain interval method require more extensive calculations.

resultsthis paper discusses the technical details of the methods, as well as advantages and disadvantages for their clinical use. TG-ROC and the grey zone method can help in the acquisition of high rates of diagnostic certainty, but can exclude large groups. The uncertain interval method can prevent decisions that are the most uncertain, invalid and unreliable, while excluding smaller groups.

conclusionsthe identification of uncertain test scores is relevant, because these scores indicate the need to obtain better information or to await further developments. The methods presented help to determine inconclusive test scores and can help to reduce erroneous decisions. However, further research and development is desirable.

Indexed as

diagnosticmeasurementquantitative testsreliabilityvalidity

Identifiers

PMID29747402
PMCPMC6023344

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.