Skip Navigation


Rheumatology Advance Access originally published online on August 9, 2005
Rheumatology 2005 44(11):1452-1455; doi:10.1093/rheumatology/kei044
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
44/11/1452    most recent
kei044v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (3)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Botha-Scheepers, S.
Right arrow Articles by Kloppenburg, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Botha-Scheepers, S.
Right arrow Articles by Kloppenburg, M.
Related Collections
Right arrow Osteoarthritis and Cartilage
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Reading radiographs in pairs or in chronological order influences radiological progression in osteoarthritis

S. Botha-Scheepers, I. Watt1, F. C. Breedveld and M. Kloppenburg

Departments of Rheumatology and 1 Radiology, Leiden University Medical Centre, The Netherlands.

Correspondence to: S. Botha-Scheepers, Leiden University Medical Centre, Department of Rheumatology, C4-R, PO Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands. E-mail: S.A.Scheepers{at}lumc.nl

Objective. To determine the influence of the order in which a series of radiographs were read on the sensitivity to change over a 2-yr follow-up period in patients with osteoarthritis (OA) at multiple sites.

Methods. Radiographs of 20 patients with OA in at least two joint sites were obtained at baseline and after 2 yr, and scored according to the consensus of two readers. Joint space narrowing (JSN) and osteophytes were graded (0–3) in the hand, hip and tibiofemoral joints. The cervical (C2–7) and lumbar spine disc spaces (L1–S1) were graded (0–3) for disc space narrowing (DSN) and anterior osteophytes. Films were read by two different procedures: in pairs, with an unknown time sequence and in chronological order. Radiological progression was defined as an increase of at least one grade in JSN, DSN or osteophyte total scores. The two procedures were compared using standardized response means (SRM).

Results. The SRM for changes in JSN or DSN progression scores in the hands, hips, knees and spine were, respectively, 0.00, 0.00, 0.32, 0.13 and 0.38, 0.32, 0.56, 0.18 for the paired and chronological readings. The SRM for changes in osteophyte progression scores in the hands, hips, knees and spine were, respectively, 0.39, 0.20, 0.32, 0.38 and 0.41, 0.37, 0.56, 0.66 for the paired and chronological readings.

Conclusion. When assessing radiological progression in OA, reading a series of radiographs in chronological order tended to be more sensitive to change over a 2-yr follow-up period than reading in pairs with an unknown time sequence.

KEY WORDS: Osteoarthritis, Radiological progression, Reading procedure, Chronological order, Paired radiographs


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.