Anovaginal Distance, Interobserver Agreement

Ostergotland County Council, Sweden40 enrolled

Overview

Interobserver variation in measuring the anovaginal distance (AVD) with perineal ultrasound

Aims: This study describes perineal ultrasound measurement of the AVD in regard to ease of learning and interobserver agreement, in order to establish if the method is reliable to use in further research about objective postpartum description of perineal tears. Methods: To educate the examiners, the method was shown and described by an experienced examiner. The examiners then measured the anovaginal distance in one woman repeatedly with until similar results (+/- 5 mm ) were achieved. The woman was in the lithotomy position and a vaginal ultrasound probe was used. The AVD in another 40 women was then measured and documented by two examiners, right after the other, who were blinded to the other´s results. The distance was measured between the mucosal margin of the internal anal sphincter and the vaginal probe. Interobserver agreement was calculated using Kappa-score.

Study Type

OBSERVATIONAL

Enrollment

Conditions

Pelvic Floor Disorders

Interventions

anovaginal distance variationOTHER

Kappa calculation

Eligibility

Sex: FEMALEMin age: 20 YearsMax age: 100 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: Examiners; the gynecologists authoring the study Patients: * any women visiting the gynaecological outpatient clinic of Linköping University Hospital where a vaginal ultrasound examination was performed Exclusion Criteria: Examiners: n/a Patients: * inability to understand spoken or written Swedish

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

interobserver variation in measurements of the anovaginal distance with perineal ultrasound

3 measurements per investigator and patient, comparing variation, using kappa value

Time frame: immediate

Secondary Outcomes

Ease of learning the technique of perineal ultrasound to measure the anovaginal distance

how many measurements did the investigator learning the procedure need to perform produce a measurement that was within 5 mm of the measurements of the teacher

Time frame: immediate

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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