Rapid Communication
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World J Gastroenterol. Feb 28, 2006; 12(8): 1249-1254
Published online Feb 28, 2006. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v12.i8.1249
Sensitivity and inter-observer variability for capsule endoscopy image analysis in a cohort of novice readers
Gary C Chen, Pedram Enayati, Tam Tran, Mary Lee-Henderson, Clifford Quan, Gareth Dulai, Ian Arnott, James Sul, Rome Jutabha
Gary C Chen, Pedram Enayati, Tam Tran, Mary Lee-Henderson, Clifford Quan, Gareth Dulai, Ian Arnott, James Sul, Rome Jutabha, UCLA Center for Small Bowel Diseases, UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, United States
Tam Tran, Mary Lee-Henderson, Clifford Quan, Gareth Dulai, Ian Arnott, James Sul, Rome Jutabha, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, United States
Gary C Chen, Pedram Enayati, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, United States
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Supported by NIH Clinical Associate Physician (CAP) Award (Dr. Jutabha), American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Research Award (Dr. Jutabha), American College of Gastroenterology Capsule Endoscopy Research Award (Dr. Jutabha), NIH General Clinical Research Center - PHS Grant No. 5 MO1-RR008658-25, Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development Career Development Award (Dr. Dulai)
Correspondence to: Rome Jutabha, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Director, UCLA Center for Small Bowel Diseases, UCLA Center for the Health Sciences 44-138, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1684, United States. rjutabha@ucla.edu
Telephone: +1-310-8255123 Fax: +1-310-8251700
Received: January 28, 2005
Revised: May 25, 2005
Accepted: June 2, 2005
Published online: February 28, 2006
Abstract

AIM: To determine the performance of novice readers (4th year medical students) for detecting capsule endoscopy findings.

METHODS: Ten capsule endoscopy cases of small bowel lesions were administered to the readers. Gold standard findings were pre-defined by gastroenterologists. Ten gold standard “targets” were identified among the 10 cases. Readers were given a 30-min overview of Rapid Reader software and instructed to mark any potential areas of abnormalities. A software program was developed using SAS to analyze the thumbnailed findings.

RESULTS: The overall sensitivity for detecting the gold standard findings was 80%. As a group, at least 5 out of 10 readers detected each gold standard finding per recording. All the gold standard targets were identified when the readers’ results were combined. Incidental finding/false positive rate ranged between 8.2-59.8 per reader.

CONCLUSION: A panel of medical students with minimal endoscopic experience can achieve high sensitivity in detecting lesions on capsule endoscopy. A group of novice readers can pre-screen recordings to thumbnail potential areas of small bowel lesions for further review. These thumbnails must be reviewed to determine the clinical relevance. Further studies are ongoing to assess other cohorts.

Keywords: Capsule endoscopy analysis, Small bowel lesions, Novice readers, Sensitivity