Assessment of inter- and intraobserver agreement between intravascular US and aortic angiography of XXXX .

@entity1 @entity764 @entity130
PURPOSE: To compare inter- and intraobserver agreement at thoracic aortic angiography with that at intravascular ultrasonography (US) in the work-up of @entity1 suspected of having @entity764 . MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three blinded readers performed a retrospective review of 95 thoracic aortic angiograms and 23 intravascular US images obtained in @entity1 suspected of having traumatic @entity130 . Inter- and intraobserver agreement in the interpretation of the thoracic aortic angiograms and intravascular US images were determined by using Cohen kappa statistics. In addition, differences among demographic groups were evaluated by using bivariate analysis. RESULTS: Interobserver agreement was lowest in the interpretation of indeterminate angiograms (kappa = 0.55) and highest in the interpretation of determinate angiograms (kappa = 0.71). In contrast, interobserver agreement in the interpretation of intravascular US images was excellent. For all groups, intraobserver agreement in the interpretation of aortic angiograms was substantial and overall agreement was good (kappa = 0.88). Intraobserver agreement in the interpretation of intravascular US images was excellent (kappa = 1.00). Differences among demographic groups were not found to be significant. CONCLUSION: Intravascular US is an adjunct to aortic angiography and yields excellent overall inter- and intraobserver agreement. Subgroups of @entity1 who are suspected of having @entity130 and have indeterminate angiograms may benefit from undergoing intravascular US.
