Doppler ultrasound tests can be normalised

[frodo]

It is known that doppler ultrasound tests can yield different results according to the operator. This has been one of the problems leading to inconsistent results across the different tests.

Now there is a trend trying to normalise the tests:

Centralized and local color Doppler ultrasound reading agreement for diagnosis of the chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency in patients with Multiple Sclerosis.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28721810

BACKGROUND:

An impaired cerebrospinal venous drainage was postulated to be a cofactor in the multifactorial pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS). Chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) is characterized by abnormalities of the main extracranial cerebrospinal venous outflow routes, which can be detected by color Doppler Ultrasound (CDUS) using 5 venous hemodynamic (VH) criteria. Discrepant results between different investigators were reported in the past, therefore the usefulness and applicability of the CCSVI CDUS-based diagnosis in clinical research and practice has been questioned. The reproducibility of proposed criteria for CCSVI detection depends on the blinding, training level, skills of the operator and interpretation of VH criteria.

CONCLUSIONS:

Centralized reading of the CDUS examination for the diagnosis of CCSVI is feasible with high accuracy in CCSVI-trained Doppler sonologists. The most reproducible VH criteria between local and centralized readers were VH criteria 4 and 5.

[ThisIsMA]

This is an interesting study, but I didn't see any mention of how many people with MS were diagnosed with CCSVI versus how many healthy controls were diagnosed with CCSVI. Or that same information expressed in percentages.

Did I miss that or was it not mentioned? If it wasn't mentioned, it would be great if someone with access to the whole article could look to see if its mentioned there, the post above is for the abstract.

Thanks Frodo for posting the study abstract!