Accuracy of Surgeon-Performed Ultrasound in Detecting Gallstones: A Validation Study
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Abstract
Background
Symptomatic gallstone disease is a common diagnosis in patients with abdominal pain. Ultrasound is considered the gold standard method to identify gallstones. Today the examination may be performed bedside by the treating clinician. Bedside ultrasound could provide a safe and time-saving diagnostic resource for surgeons evaluating patients with suspected symptomatic gallstones; however, large validation studies of the accuracy and reliability are lacking. The aim of this study was to prospectively investigate the accuracy of surgeon-performed ultrasound for the detection of gallstones.
Methods
Between October 2011 and November 2012, 179 adult patients, with an acute or elective referral for an abdominal ultrasound examination, were examined with a right upper quadrant ultrasound scan by a radiologist as well as a surgeon. The surgeons had undergone a four-week-long ultrasound education before participating in the study. Ultrasound findings of the surgeon were compared to those of the radiologist, using radiologist-performed ultrasound as reference standard.
Results
Surgeon-performed ultrasound agreed with radiologist findings in 169 of 179 patients regarding the detection of gallstones, providing an accuracy of 94 %. The sensitivity was 88 % (67/76), specificity 99 % (102/103), positive predictive value 99 % (67/68), and negative predictive value 92 % (102/111). Agreement between the diagnosis set by the radiologists and the surgeons was high: Cohen’s Kappa coefficient = 0.88.
Conclusions
Ultrasound-trained surgeons may accurately diagnose gallstones using ultrasound and reach a high level of agreement with radiologists.
Keywords
Positive Predict Value Negative Predict Value Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Radiology Department Biliary Tract DiseaseNotes
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Marie Beermann and Odd Runeborg in the Department of Radiology, Stockholm South General Hospital, for their expertise and highly skilled training in ultrasound. We would also like to thank Anna-Klara Nordblad-Sasnauskas for the help with interpreting radiologist statements. We send our gratitude to all participating surgeons in the Department of Surgery, Stockholm South General Hospital: Åsa Hallqvist, Karin Lind, Linda Nigard, Martin Nordberg, and Jenny Oddsberg. We thank Martin Dahlberg, Department of Surgery, Stockholm South General Hospital, for useful help and invaluable support in manuscript writing.
Funding
This study was supported by a grant from the Swedish Society of Medicine, SEK180.000 (=USD 20.000).
Compliance with ethical standards
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
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