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Interobserver agreement on the radiological criteria of the International Panel on the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis

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Abstract

We assessed the interobserver agreement on the radiological part of the International Panel (IP) criteria for the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS), comprising the assessment of dissemination in space (DIS) and time (DIT) based exclusively on MRI. Four radiologists trained and four radiologists naive in the application of the IP criteria scored the fulfillment for DIS (i.e., ≥3 periventricular, ≥1 infratentorial, ≥1 juxtacortical, ≥ 1 enhancing lesion or a total of ≥9 T2-weighted lesions) and DIT (presence of new or enhancing lesions at follow-up) in baseline and two follow-up scans from 20 patients suspected for having MS. The IP-trained radiologists agreed at least moderately on all assessments (κ>0.40), whereas the IP-naive radiologists showed fair agreement (κ<0.40) on five of 16 assessments. In the final conclusion on DIS and DIT, the IP-trained radiologists agreed substantially on both items (κ=0.62 and κ=0.60, respectively) compared with a fair agreement on DIS (κ=0.29) and moderate agreement on DIT (κ=0.52) among the IP-naive radiologists. Given the poor interobserver agreement among IP-naive observers, the new IP criteria for MS require additional training and should perhaps be simplified.

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Acknowledgements

The VU University Center for MS Research is supported by the Dutch MSResearch Foundation (Voorschoten, The Netherlands). Further, the DutchMS Research Foundation (Voorschoten, The Netherlands) also supportsT.Korteweg (grant 00–425 MS).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, VU University Medical Centre, De Boelelaan 1117, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Tijmen Korteweg, Peter A. Poppe, Jan-Hein T. M. van Waesberghe, Elisabeth Bergers, Geert J. Lycklama à Nijeholt & Frederik Barkhof

  2. Department of Neurology, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Bernard M. J. Uitdehaag & Chris H. Polman

  3. Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Bernard M. J. Uitdehaag & Dirk L. Knol

  4. Department of Radiology, Rijnland Hospital, Leiderdorp, The Netherlands

    Robin H. M. Smithuis

  5. Department of Radiology, Medical Centre Alkmaar, Alkmaar, The Netherlands

    Paul R. Algra

  6. Department of Radiology, OLVG, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Cees de Vries

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  1. Tijmen Korteweg
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  2. Bernard M. J. Uitdehaag
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  4. Robin H. M. Smithuis
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  7. Peter A. Poppe
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  8. Jan-Hein T. M. van Waesberghe
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  9. Elisabeth Bergers
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  10. Geert J. Lycklama à Nijeholt
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  11. Chris H. Polman
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  12. Frederik Barkhof
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Correspondence to Tijmen Korteweg.

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Korteweg, T., Uitdehaag, B.M.J., Knol, D.L. et al. Interobserver agreement on the radiological criteria of the International Panel on the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. Eur Radiol 17, 67–71 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-006-0303-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-006-0303-5

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