Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30168029›Full record

ArticleJournal of nuclear cardiology : official publication of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology2020

Inter-reader variability of SPECT MPI readings in low- and middle-income countries: Results from the IAEA-MPI Audit Project (I-MAP).

Maurizio Dondi, Carlo Rodella, Raffaele Giubbini, Luca Camoni, Ganesan Karthikeyan, Joao V Vitola, Andrew J Einstein, Bertjan J Arends, Olga Morozova, Thomas N Pascual and 2 more

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of nuclear cardiology : official publication of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
0.7field-weighted citation impact, top 27% of its field
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

4 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Review
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

12 authors at 6 institutions in 5 countries.

Maurizio DondiNuclear Medicine Department, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy. mauriziodondi@yahoo.it.
Carlo RodellaDepartment of Medical Physics, Spedali Civili di Brescia, Brescia, Italy.
Raffaele GiubbiniNuclear Medicine Department, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy.
Luca CamoniNuclear Medicine Department, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy.
Ganesan KarthikeyanDepartment of Cardiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Joao V VitolaQuanta Diagnóstico & Terapia, Curitiba, Brazil.
Andrew J EinsteinDepartment of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, and Department of Radiology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, USA.
Bertjan J ArendsDepartment of Medical Physics, Catharina Hospital, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
Olga MorozovaNuclear Medicine and Diagnostic Imaging Section, Division of Human Health, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria.
Thomas N PascualNuclear Medicine and Diagnostic Imaging Section, Division of Human Health, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria.
Diana PaezNuclear Medicine and Diagnostic Imaging Section, Division of Human Health, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria.
I-MAP investigators
International Atomic Energy Agency · ATUniversity of Brescia · ITAll India Institute of Medical Sciences · INAzienda Socio Sanitaria Territoriale degli Spedali Civili di Brescia · ITColumbia University Irving Medical Center · USRadboud University Nijmegen · NL

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundConsistency of results between different readers is an important issue in medical imaging, as it affects portability of results between institutions and may affect patient care. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in pursuing its mission of fostering peaceful applications of nuclear technologies has supported several training activities in the field of nuclear cardiology (NC) and SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) in particular. The aim of this study was to verify the outcome of those activities through an international clinical audit on MPI where participants were requested to report on studies distributed from a core lab.

methodsThe study was run in two phases: in phase 1, SPECT MPI studies were distributed as raw data and full processing was requested as per local practice. In phase 2, images from studies pre-processed at the core lab were distributed. Data to be reported included summed stress score (SSS); summed rest score (SRS); summed difference score (SDS); left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF) and end- diastolic volume (EDV). Qualitative appraisals included the assessment of perfusion and presence of ischemia, scar or mixed patterns, presence of transient ischemic dilation (TID), and risk for cardiac events (CE). Twenty-four previous trainees from low- and middle-income countries participated (core participants group) and their results were assessed for inter-observer variability in each of the two phases, and for changes between phases. The same evaluations were performed for a group of eleven international experts (experts group). Results were also compared between the groups.

resultsExpert readers showed an excellent level of agreement for all parameters in both phase 1 and 2. For core participants, the concordance of all parameters in phase 1 was rated as good to excellent. Two parameters which were re-evaluated in phase 2, namely SSS and SRS, showed an increased level of concordance, up to excellent in both cases. Reporting of categorical variables by expert readers remained almost unchanged between the two phases, while core participants showed an increase in phase 2. Finally, pooled LVEF values did not show a significant difference between core participants and experts. However, significant differences were found between LVEF values obtained using different software packages for cardiac analysis.

conclusionsIn this study, inter-observer agreement was moderate-to-good for core group readers and good-to-excellent for expert readers. The quality of reporting is affected by the quality of processing. These results confirm the important role of the IAEA training activities in improving imaging in low- and middle-income countries.

Indexed as

AgedCardiac-Gated Single-Photon Emission Computer-Assisted TomographyDeveloping CountriesExercise TestFemaleGeographyHeartHeart VentriclesHumansInternational CooperationMaleMiddle AgedMyocardial Perfusion ImagingObserver VariationPositron-Emission TomographyPovertyTechnetiumCADGated SPECTImage interpretationMyocardial ischemia and infarction

Identifiers

PMID30168029
PMCPMC7174263
OpenAlexW2889171559

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.