Kizilgoz V, Aydin S, Aydemir H, Keles P, Kantarci M. Interobserver and intraobserver reliability of skull base angles measured on magnetic resonance images. World J Clin Cases 2024; 12(34): 6687-6695 [DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i34.6687]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Sonay Aydin, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Radiology, Erzincan Binali Yıldırım University, Faculty of Medicine, Haci Ali Akin cd., Erzincan 24000, Türkiye. sonay.aydin@erzincan.edu.tr
Research Domain of This Article
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Article-Type of This Article
Retrospective Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Volkan Kizilgoz, Sonay Aydin, Huseyin Aydemir, Mecit Kantarci, Department of Radiology, Erzincan Binali Yıldırım University, Faculty of Medicine, Erzincan 24000, Türkiye
Papatya Keles, Department of Anatomy, University of Health Sciences, Hamidiye Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul 34674, Türkiye
Author contributions: Kizilgoz V and Aydin S designed and performed the research and wrote the paper; Aydin S and Aydemir H designed the research and supervised the report; Aydemir H and Keles P designed the research and contributed to the analysis; Keles P and Kantaci M provided clinical advice; Kantarci M supervised the report.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of the Erzincan Binali Yıldırım University, Faculty of Medicine.
Informed consent statement: The requirement for written informed consent was waived due to the retrospective design of the study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no conflicts of interest exist in this paper.
Data sharing statement: Data generated from this investigation are available upon reasonable quest from the corresponding author.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Sonay Aydin, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Radiology, Erzincan Binali Yıldırım University, Faculty of Medicine, Haci Ali Akin cd., Erzincan 24000, Türkiye. sonay.aydin@erzincan.edu.tr
Received: February 6, 2024 Revised: September 13, 2024 Accepted: September 25, 2024 Published online: December 6, 2024 Processing time: 248 Days and 13.5 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Determination of platybasia and basilar kyphosis are significant parts of routine cranial magnetic resonance (MR) interpretations. These situations may explain a patient’s symptoms or may be associated with other anomalies.
AIM
To indicate the interobserver and intraobserver reliability of the skull base angles (SBA) (Koenigsberg standard) and modified SBA (mSBA) measurement techniques.
METHODS
In total, 391 patients who had undergone cranial MR imaging were re-assessed regarding the SBA measurements. The SBA and mSBA techniques were used on MR images. Two reviewers independently measured the same angles twice within a 15-day interval, using different monitors. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was calculated to reveal the intraobserver and interobserver agreements.
RESULTS
There was an excellent agreement between reviewers regarding both angle measurements (ICC was 0.998 for SBA and mSBA). Excellent agreement levels were also observed for intraobserver measurements. ICC was 0.998 for SBA and 0.999 for mSBA for reviewer 1. ICC was 0.997 for SBA and 0.999 for mSBA according to the measurement results of reviewer 2. Higher SBA and mSBA values were observed for females compared to males. There was no correlation between SBA and age for SBA. However, a negative and low-level correlation was observed between mSBA values and age for both reviewers.
CONCLUSION
SBA and mSBA measurements indicated excellent agreement regarding interobserver and intraobserver differences. The study results showed that SBA angles were reliable measurement techniques to be used on MR images.
Core Tip: This was a retrospective study to evaluate the interobserver and intraobserver reliability of the skull base angles (SBA) (Koenigsberg standard) and modified SBA (mSBA) measurement techniques. There was an excellent agreement between reviewers. Higher SBA and mSBA values were observed for females compared to males. There was no correlation between SBA and age for SBA. SBA and mSBA measurements showed high agreement for interobserver and intraobserver differences. The study found that SBA angles were reliable measuring methodologies for application on magnetic resonance images.
