Ultrasonographic assessment of patellar tendon thickness at 16 clinically relevant measurement sites – A study of intra- and interrater reliability

Ultrasonographic assessment of patellar tendon thickness at 16 clinically relevant measurement sites – A study of intra- and interrater reliability

To determine intra- and interrater reliability of ultrasonographic imaging (USI) measurements of patellar tendon (PT) thickness using 16 measurement sites covering the entire tendon. Reliability study. Physiotherapy outpatient clinic. Twenty healthy and physically active volunteers (9 women). Mean a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of bodywork and movement therapies Vol. 23; no. 2; pp. 344 - 351
Main Authors: Holm, Pætur M., Skou, Søren T., Olesen, Jens L., Mølbak, Sissel, Jørgensen, Heidi, Skjoldager, Morten, Christensen, Steffan W.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States Elsevier Ltd 01-04-2019
Subjects:
Adult
Female
Humans
Knee
Male
Musculoskeletal disorders
Observer Variation
Patellar Ligament - anatomy & histology
Patellar Ligament - diagnostic imaging
Patellar tendon
Reliability
Reproducibility of Results
Ultrasonography
Ultrasonography - standards
Young Adult
Knee
Musculoskeletal disorders
Patellar tendon
Reliability
Ultrasonography
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Summary:To determine intra- and interrater reliability of ultrasonographic imaging (USI) measurements of patellar tendon (PT) thickness using 16 measurement sites covering the entire tendon. Reliability study. Physiotherapy outpatient clinic. Twenty healthy and physically active volunteers (9 women). Mean age: 24 years (SD ± 2.73). Mean body mass: 75.8 kg (SD ± 11.8). Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and 95% limits of agreement (LOA) in cm and in percentage relative to the mean PT thickness. Intrarater reliability ranged from 0.59 to 0.87 and 0.59 to 0.93 for examiners I and II, respectively. Interrater reliability ranged from 0.37 to 0.89. Measurement precision for examiner I ranged from 0.05 to 0.09 cm (17.5%–26.7%) while ranging from 0.04 to 0.13 cm (13.3%–38.7%) for examiner II. Interrater measurement precision ranged from 0.07 to 0.15 cm (19.1%–42.5%). In an attempt to replicate daily clinical USI practice, this was the first study extensively assessing reliability throughout the full range of the patellar tendon - revealing a considerable variation in intra- and interrater reliability as well as measurement precision throughout the 16 individual PT sites. In a clinical context, the low interrater reliability and precision found at the proximal tendon insertion site may have implications for USI of the symptomatic PT, as this is the site mainly associated with underlying pathologic changes. Further reliability studies are needed to clarify the region-specific reliability of the full length PT.
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content type line 23
ISSN:1360-8592
1532-9283
DOI:10.1016/j.jbmt.2019.02.004