Abstract
Objective
The purpose of our study was to evaluate interobserver variability between the radiologist
and emergency physician in detecting blunt liver trauma by conventional and contrast-enhanced
ultrasound (US) (CEUS).
Methods
We created 20 sites of blunt liver trauma in rabbits and performed conventional US
and CEUS on the animals. A radiologist and an emergency physician independently evaluated
the degree of liver trauma. Using contrast-enhanced computed tomography as a reference
standard, the diagnostic performance of US and CEUS was calculated. Interobserver
variability between radiologist and emergency physician was compared before and after
contrast enhancement of US.
Results
Overall sensitivity and specificity for detecting liver trauma on conventional US,
regardless of the degree of trauma, were 61.1% and 100% for the radiologist and 50%
and 100% for the emergency physician. On CEUS, the sensitivity and specificity were
94.4% and 100% for both the radiologist and emergency physician. The interobserver
agreement between emergency physician and radiologist increased from 0.867 to 0.955
after contrast enhancement on US.
Conclusions
Contrast-enhanced US may permit a more accurate diagnosis for liver trauma than conventional
US by both the radiologist and emergency physician. Contrast-enhanced US may also
reduce interobserver variability for this diagnosis.
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: August 26, 2011
Accepted:
June 14,
2011
Received in revised form:
May 20,
2011
Received:
April 13,
2011
Identification
Copyright
© 2012 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
