Observer experience improves reproducibility of color Doppler sonography of orbital blood vessels.
OBJECTIVE
The study investigated the reproducibility of orbital blood flow measurements with color Doppler imaging (CDI) at different stages of observer experience.


METHODS
The subjects were 31 healthy volunteers and 2 sequential groups of 25 glaucoma patients each. Repeated blood flow measurements (usually 3 sets) in orbital vessels (ophthalmic artery, short posterior ciliary arteries, central retinal artery, and central retinal vein) were performed by the same observer in a single session in each subject.


RESULTS
The parameters with the best reproducibility were the resistance index (mean coefficient of variation [COV], 3.3-8.8%), the peak systolic velocity (mean COV, 6.9-13.7%), the time-averaged velocity (mean COV, 7.2-16.0%), and the systolic acceleration time (mean COV, 8.8-12.3%). The mean COV was greater (9.9-20.3%) for the other arterial flow parameters (end-diastolic velocity and systolic acceleration) and for the venous flow velocities (maximum and minimum). The COVs of the parameters were improved by 20-40% as the observer became more experienced in ophthalmic CDI.


CONCLUSIONS
We confirm the general reliability of CDI measurements in orbital vessels and show that observer experience improves reproducibility. It appears, however, that observer performance in these measurements is vessel specific.
First Department of Ophthalmology, Semmelweis University, Tömo utca 25-29, H-1083 Budapest, Hungary.
János
J
Németh
Rita
R
Kovács
Zoltán
Z
Harkányi
Krisztina
K
Knézy
Katalin
K
Sényi
István
I
Marsovszky
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D019842:Ciliary Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005260:Female; D005901:Glaucoma / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D009880:Ophthalmic Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D009915:Orbit / Q000098:blood supply*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012161:Retinal Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D018615:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color; D018084:Ultrasonography, Interventional