title: Development of a colour Doppler ultrasound scoring system in patients of Takayasu's arteritis and its correlation with clinical activity score (ITAS 2010).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objectives of this study were to develop a scoring system with colour Doppler ultrasound (CDUS) in patients with Takayasu's arteritis, to correlate the CDUS score with the Indian Takayasu's Activity Score (ITAS) and to assess the degree of agreement between CDUS and angiogram in the diagnosis of Takayasu's arteritis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nineteen angiographically confirmed Takayasu's arteritis patients fulfilling three or more of the 1990 ACR criteria were evaluated. Their ITASs were recorded. A CDUS scoring system, CDUS-Kolkata (CDUS-K), was devised based on the presence of stenosis and altered flow patterns. It was then correlated with the ITAS. An inter-rater agreement analysis was done between the CDUS-K scores and angiographic scores in selected arterial sites.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found a significant degree of correlation between the ITAS and the CDUS-K score (r = 0.7144, 95% CI 0.3852, 0.8823, P = 0.0006). A high degree of correlation was found between the CDUS-K and angiographic scores in the selected arterial sites (κ-value = 0.725 on inter-rater agreement analysis).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CDUS imaging may be used as an objective tool for assessing disease severity in Takayasu's arteritis. Development of a CDUS-K scoring system would be a supplementary tool to clinical scoring and the ITAS. CDUS imaging could be a cost-effective, non-invasive and reliable substitute for angiogram, especially for follow-up in Takayasu's arteritis patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education and Research (IPGME&R), 244A, AJC Bose Road, Kolkata 700020, India. alakendughosh@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Debanjali
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sinha
authors.forename: Sumantro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mondal
authors.forename: Arijit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nag
authors.forename: Alakendu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ghosh
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001024:Aortic Valve Stenosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D016893:Carotid Stenosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D012078:Renal Artery Obstruction / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D013349:Subclavian Steal Syndrome / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D013625:Takayasu Arteritis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D018615:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Indian Takayasu’s Activity Score; Takayasu’s arteritis; colour Doppler ultrasound scoring