Journal CME, November 2022: Reliability and validity of subjective radiologist reporting of temporal changes in lumbar spine MRI findings-2

2 - Journal Nov 2022 Reliability

Pdf Summary

The study investigates the reliability and validity of subjective radiologist reporting of temporal changes in lumbar spine MRI findings. It focuses on two main objectives: assessing the interrater reliability of reporting these temporal changes and determining how often false positives occur when two MRI scans are conducted 30 minutes apart. Forty participants with current or previous low back pain were recruited, and their MRIs taken on a single 3T scanner were analyzed.<br /><br />Key findings include:<br />1. **Interrater Reliability**: The reliability of reporting temporal changes was poor based on Kappa values (≤0.24), although agreement between radiologists was high (90.8%) when considering the absence of change. High Prevalence and Bias Adjusted Kappa (PABAK) values (≥0.82) further indicate this high agreement is largely due to the low prevalence of reported changes.<br />2. **False Positives**: Temporal changes were often reported as false positives by radiologists, though the rate was relatively low.<br /><br />The study highlights the challenges in consistently interpreting temporal changes in lumbar MRI findings, with significant implications for clinical practice and research. The reliability of reporting temporal changes is questionable due to various technical factors, such as patient positioning and slice selection, potentially leading to false positive results.<br /><br />Overall, the study emphasizes the need for cautious interpretation of temporal changes in lumbar spine MRI findings due to poor reliability and the occurrence of some false positives. It calls for future research to develop more reliable methods for identifying these changes to better understand their clinical significance and to ensure accurate clinical decisions.

Keywords

lumbar spine MRI

interrater reliability

temporal changes

false positives

radiologist reporting

low back pain

3T scanner

Kappa values

PABAK values

clinical practice