Validity and Diagnostic Accuracy of Clarke's Angle in Determining Paediatric Flexible Flatfoot Using Radiographic Findings as a Criterion Standard Measure: A Cross-Sectional Study

Author(s):  
Fatma Hegazy ◽  
Emad Aboelnasr ◽  
Amr A. Abdel-Aziem ◽  
In-Ju Kim

Background: Clinical diagnosis of Paediatric flexible flatfoot is still a challenging issue for the healthcare professionals. Clarke's Angle (CA) is frequently used clinically for assessing foot posture; however there is still a debate about its validity and diagnostic accuracy in evaluation of static foot posture especially in Paediatric population with some previous studies supporting, while the others are refuting its validity. The current study aimed to investigate validity and diagnostic accuracy of CA using radiographic findings as a criterion standard measure to determine flexible flatfoot between ages of 6-18 years. Methods: A cross-sectional study conducted on 612 participants (1224 feet) with flexible flatfoot aged 6-18 years (12.36 {plus minus}3.39) was recruited. The clinical measures results were compared to the criterion standard radiographic measures and displayed on the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) and the area under ROC curve (AUC) was computed. Intra-rater reliability, sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, and likelihood ratios were calculated for CA. Fagan nomogram was used to detect the posttest probability. Results: Clarke's angle (CA) demonstrated higher intra-rater reliability (ICC=0.99). CA showed higher sensitivity (98.4%), specificity (98.8), positive predictive value (97.3), negative predictive value (99.3), positive likelihood ratio (84) and negative likelihood ratio (0.02). AUC was 0.98[95%CI= 0095-1.00]. The positive likelihood ratio (LR+) yielded a posttest probability of 97%, while the negative likelihood ratio (LR−) yielded a posttest probability of 0.02. Conclusions: CA is a valid with high diagnostic accuracy in diagnosis of flexible flatfoot between the ages of 6-18 years.

Dermatology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 235 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-106
Author(s):  
María Victoria Martire ◽  
María Paula Girard Bosch ◽  
Santiago Scarafia ◽  
Vanesa Cosentino ◽  
Maria Janina Tapia Moreira ◽  
...  

Background/Objective: Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is preceded by psoriasis in approximately 80% of cases. Dermatologists are pivotal for early detection. It is important to have simple tools that allow the detection of PsA in patients with skin psoriasis. The aim of our study was to evaluate the performance of an adapted version of the GEPARD Questionnaire in Spanish in Argentinian patients with psoriasis. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. A new Spanish (Argentinian) (GEPARDa) translated version of the original questionnaire (German) was developed and then tested as a diagnostic tool in patients with psoriasis, PsA, osteoarthritis associated to psoriasis, and osteoarthritis, all evaluated by rheumatologists who used the CASPAR criteria. Results: Eighty-three patients were included (55 [66.3%] women with a mean age of 50.7 years [SD 6.3]). Forty-four patients had PsA (29 [34.9%] patients had previous diagnosis of PsA, and 15 [18%] were newly diagnosed after referral by their dermatologists), and 39 patients were without PsA (18 [21.6%] patients had psoriasis without articular involvement, 6 [7.22%] had psoriasis associated with osteoarthritis, and 15 [18%] had osteoarthritis). An area under the curve of 0.9554 (SD 0.01; 95% CI 0.91–0.99) was calculated considering the CASPAR criteria as the gold standard. With a cutoff of ≥6 the questionnaire showed a sensitivity of 88.64%, a specificity of 89.74%, a positive likelihood ratio of 8.6, and a negative likelihood ratio of 0.12. Conclusions: The GEPARDa version has proven to be a diagnostic tool with excellent performance so that it can be considered a valid tool for the detection of PsA in Argentinian patients.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 234-240
Author(s):  
L. Adjé ◽  
V. Yapo ◽  
M. Yayo-Ayé ◽  
S. Bognini ◽  
M. Meledje ◽  
...  

New tools for the rapid diagnosis of hemoglobinosis could encourage the extension of their screening in Africa. Our goal was to assess the analytical performances of a rapid hemoglobin S and C detection test, the Sickle Scan. This was a cross-sectional study carried out in March 2019 at the Yopougon Teaching Hospital. The subjects followed for hemoglobinosis as well as the subjects seeking out an electrophoresis of their hemoglobin were included. We carried out the hemogram, the electrophoresis of hemoglobin at alkaline pH (reference method) coupled with the metabisulfite sickling test (Emmel test) and the rapid detection test to be evaluated. This immunochromatographic test is capable of detecting hemoglobins A, S, and C, and to infer the hemoglobin phenotype from there. The study recruited 191 individuals. The test detected hemoglobins S and C with a sensitivity of 99.4% and 97.7% respectively; a specificity of 93.3% and 99.3%. The positive likelihood ratio for hemoglobins S and C was 15 and 144 respectively. The negative likelihood ratio was 0.01 for hemoglobin S, and 0.02 for hemoglobin C. The intrinsic characteristics obtained make this test an interesting screening tool for hemoglobinosis S and C. Keywords: Diagnostic test, hemoglobinosis, Abidjan, sensitivity, specificity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Samaneh Rokhgireh ◽  
Abolfazl Mehdizadeh Kashi ◽  
Shahla Chaichian ◽  
Ali-Akbar Delbandi ◽  
Leila Allahqoli ◽  
...  

Background. The present study was designed to verify the accuracy of the noninvasive biomarkers enolase/Cr, CA125, and CA19-9 as a clinical diagnostic tool for the detection of endometriosis. Methods. A cross-sectional study was performed at Rasool-e-Akram Hospital affiliated to Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, from April 2015 to April 2018. Eighty-six women were scheduled to undergo laparoscopy due to chronic pelvic pain, infertility, pelvic mass, and abnormal uterine bleeding. Serum and urine samples of all patients were collected preoperatively. Serum levels of CA125 and CA19-9, and urine levels of enolase-1 were measured. Serum levels of CA125 and CA19-9 were determined by the electrochemiluminescence method (ECL). Urinary enolase-1 was measured by the ELISA method. Result. Serum levels of CA125 and CA19-9 were significantly higher in the endometriosis group than in controls (p<0.001, p=0.004, respectively). Levels of enolase I and enolase/Cr were higher in patients with endometriosis, but the differences were not statistically significant. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of combined enolase/Cr, CA125, and CA19-9 were 65%, 66.6%, 71%, and 60.1%, respectively. The positive likelihood ratio (PLR) and negative likelihood ratio (NLR) of combined enolase/Cr, CA125, and CA19-9 was 1.94 and 0.52, respectively. The area under the ROC curve for enolase/Cr+CA125+CA19−9 was 0.675 (95% confidence interval 0.573-0.710). Conclusion. The present study revealed that concurrent measurement of enolase-1, CA125, and CA19-9 might be a valuable noninvasive test for the identification of endometriosis.


Author(s):  
Amar Taksande ◽  
Rupesh Rao ◽  
Sachin Yedve ◽  
Patel Zeeshan Jameel ◽  
Revat Meshram

Background: Planter reflex is still an essential part of the neurological examination. The usual plantar reflex involved bending of the big toe or no response. There is a positive Babinski signal with corticospinal dysfunction, which involves big toe dorsal flexion and the accompanying fanning of the other toes. It’s one of the infant reflexes that disappers as the infant nervous system grows. The plantar reaction is primarily extensive in stable, term neonates. Many have researched this reflex's accuracy but very few studies have analyzed the various techniques of the planting reflex. Objective: To assess the five different technique of eliciting the plantar reflex in newborn babies. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the eligible healthy newborn will be given the different methods for the elicitation of the plantar reflex i.e. Oppenheim sign, Gordon sign, Gonda’s sign, Chaddock sign, and Schaefer sign. During this procedure, we will record  the baseline RR, HR, and SpO2 before, and after the procedure. Three pediatric residents of the different years will be selected for examining the newborn reflexes throughout the study period. Results: After completion of the study, we will come to know the negative likelihood ratio, negative predictive value, positive predictive, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, and sensitivity of the Oppenheim sign, Gordon sign, Gonda’s sign, Chaddock sign, and Schaefer sign. Conclusion: The study will probably give us information about the sensitivity and specificity of the Oppenheim sign, Gordon sign, Gonda’s sign, Chaddock sign, and Schaefer sign for the elicitation of the plantar reflex in the neonates.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 153303382110119
Author(s):  
Wen-Ting Zhang ◽  
Guo-Xun Zhang ◽  
Shuai-Shuai Gao

Background: Leukemia is a common malignant disease in the human blood system. Many researchers have proposed circulating microRNAs as biomarkers for the diagnosis of leukemia. We conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of circulating miRNAs in the diagnosis of leukemia. Methods: A comprehensive literature search (updated to October 13, 2020) in PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Wanfang database and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) was performed to identify eligible studies. The sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), and area under the curve (AUC) for diagnosing leukemia were pooled for both overall and subgroup analysis. The meta-regression and subgroup analysis were performed to explore heterogeneity and Deeks’ funnel plot was used to assess publication bias. Results: 49 studies from 22 publications with a total of 3,489 leukemia patients and 2,756 healthy controls were included in this meta-analysis. The overall sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, diagnostic odds ratio and area under the curve were 0.83, 0.92, 10.8, 0.18, 59 and 0.94, respectively. Subgroup analysis shows that the microRNA clusters of plasma type could carry out a better diagnostic accuracy of leukemia patients. In addition, publication bias was not found. Conclusions: Circulating microRNAs can be used as a promising noninvasive biomarker in the early diagnosis of leukemia.


BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. e038088
Author(s):  
Jacky Tu ◽  
Peter Gowdie ◽  
Julian Cassar ◽  
Simon Craig

BackgroundSeptic arthritis is an uncommon but potentially significant diagnosis to be considered when a child presents to the emergency department (ED) with non-traumatic limp. Our objective was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of clinical findings (history and examination) and investigation results (pathology tests and imaging) for the diagnosis of septic arthritis among children presenting with acute non-traumatic limp to the ED.MethodsSystematic review of the literature published between 1966 and June 2019 on MEDLINE and EMBASE databases. Studies were included if they evaluated children presenting with lower limb complaints and evaluated diagnostic performance of items from history, physical examination, laboratory testing or radiological examination. Data were independently extracted by two authors, and quality assessment was performed using the Quality Assessment Tool for Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2 tool.Results18 studies were identified, and included 2672 children (560 with a final diagnosis of septic arthritis). There was substantial heterogeneity in inclusion criteria, study setting, definitions of specific variables and the gold standard used to confirm septic arthritis. Clinical and investigation findings were reported using varying definitions and cut-offs, and applied to differing study populations. Spectrum bias and poor-to-moderate study design quality limit their applicability to the ED setting.Single studies suggest that the presence of joint tenderness (n=189; positive likelihood ratio 11.4 (95% CI 5.9 to 22.0); negative likelihood ratio 0.2 (95% CI 0.0 to 1.2)) and joint effusion on ultrasound (n=127; positive likelihood ratio 8.4 (95% CI 4.1 to 17.1); negative likelihood ratio 0.2 (95% CI 0.1 to 0.3)) appear to be useful. Two promising clinical risk prediction tools were identified, however, their performance was notably lower when tested in external validation studies.DiscussionDifferentiating children with septic arthritis from non-emergent disorders of non-traumatic limp remains a key diagnostic challenge for emergency physicians. There is a need for prospectively derived and validated ED-based clinical risk prediction tools.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-136
Author(s):  
Md Akter Hossain ◽  
Md Saiful Haque ◽  
Mostaque Ahmed Bhuiya ◽  
Abu Bakar Siddique

Background: CT-scan can detect hepatocelluar carcinoma among the patients.Objective: The purpose of the present study was to see the pattern of hepatocelluar carcinoma among the patients attended at a tertiary care hospital in Dhaka city.Methodology: This cross-sectional study was carried out in the Department of Radiology and Imaging at Dhaka Medical College, Dhaka and Banghabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka from January 2007 to May 2008 for a period of around one and half year. All the patients presented with hepatocellular carcinoma at the age group of more than 20 years with both sexes were selected as study population. The patients were undergone CT-scan examination and the confirmation of tumor was performed by histopathological examination.Result: A total number of 50 patients were recruited in this study after fulfilling the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of CT-scan in detecting hepatocellular carcinoma was seen to be 66%, 92% and 72% respectively. The PPV and NPV were 96.15% (95% CI 79.06% to 99.40%) and 45.83% (95% CI 34.53% to 57.58%) respectively. However, the Positive Likelihood Ratio and Negative Likelihood Ratio were 7.89 (95% CI 1.19 to 52.28) and 0.37(95% CI 0.23 to 0.60).Conclusion: In conclusion CT-scan is a good diagnostic tool for the detection of hepatocellular carcinoma.Journal of National Institute of Neurosciences Bangladesh, 2018;4(2): 133-136


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 331-332
Author(s):  
Franz Stanzel

Background: An important part of the investigation of pleural effusion is the identification of markers that help separate exudate from transudate. Objectives: The purposes of this study were to compare the accuracy of published and new sets of criteria to distinguish between exudative and transudative pleural effusions, and to determine whether serum biochemical analysis is necessary. Methods: An externally validated cohort study was performed. Pleural effusions were determined to be transudative or exudative on the basis of an assessment of the medical record by two clinicians blinded to biochemical results. Sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve were determined for each proposed combination of criteria. Results: Pleural fluid analysis was available for 311 thoracenteses in the main cohort and for 112 thoracenteses in the validation cohort. The best sensitivity (97% [95% CI 94-99]) and negative likelihood ratio (0.04 [95% CI 0.02-0.08]) for identifying exudative effusions were observed with criteria combining pleural fluid lactate dehydrogenase greater than 0.6 the upper limit of normal serum lactate dehydrogenase and pleural fluid cholesterol greater than 1.04 mmol/L (40 mg/dL). The overall diagnostic accuracy was similar to Light's criteria. Findings were similar in the validation cohort. Conclusions: Our proposed criteria using simultaneously pleural fluid lactate dehydrogenase and pleural fluid cholesterol can identify an exudate with a sensitivity and an overall diagnostic accuracy similar to Light's criteria. It avoids simultaneous blood sampling, thus reducing patient discomfort and potential costs.


Author(s):  
Amita Ray ◽  
Divya S. ◽  
B. N. Kumar Guru ◽  
A. S. Ramaswamy ◽  
Bharat Kumar

Background: Identification of the nature of an adnexal mass can ensure optimum management. Single parameters as well as diagnostic models using a combination of several parameters are in use. The International Ovarian Tumor Analysis (IOTA) consortium has developed and published the Assessment of Different NEoplasias in the adneXa (ADNEX) model, which differentiates between benign and malignant masses. Authors conducted this study with the aim of finding a cut off value for this model in the study population and comparing the diagnostic accuracy of this model to that of the risk of malignancy (RMI).Methods: Women with adnexal masses admitted to the 3 medical college affiliated hospitals for surgical management were included in this study. Appropriate investigations were done to calculate the RMI-I and ADNEX score for each participant. A cut off score for the ADNEX model was determined and diagnostic accuracy tests were done for comparison.Results: At a cut-off of 29 for the ADNEX model and 200 for RMI model the sensitivity was 75% and 77.8, specificity 100% and 80.6%; Positive Predictive Value (PPV) 100%and 60%; Negative Predictive Value (NPV) 91% and 90.6%; Positive Likelihood ratio of infinity and 4 and a negative Likelihood Ratio of 2.8 and 2.5 respectively.Conclusions: The ADNEX model rates higher than the RMI in almost all tests of diagnostic accuracy and can be used for triaging, framing a referral policy and prioritizing surgery.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document