Semi-Automated Quantification of Finger Joint Space Narrowing Using Tomosynthesis in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis | Journal of Imaging Informatics in Medicine Skip to main content

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Semi-Automated Quantification of Finger Joint Space Narrowing Using Tomosynthesis in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

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Abstract

The purpose of the study is to validate the semi-automated method using tomosynthesis images for the assessment of finger joint space narrowing (JSN) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), by using the semi-quantitative scoring method as the reference standard. Twenty patients (14 females and 6 males) with RA were included in this retrospective study. All patients underwent radiography and tomosynthesis of the bilateral hand and wrist. Two rheumatologists and a radiologist independently scored JSN with two modalities according to the Sharp/van der Heijde score. Two observers independently measured joint space width on tomosynthesis images using an in-house semi-automated method. More joints with JSN were revealed with tomosynthesis score (243 joints) and the semi-automated method (215 joints) than with radiography (120 joints), and the associations between tomosynthesis scores and radiography scores were demonstrated (P < 0.001). There was significant, negative correlation between measured joint space width and tomosynthesis scores with r = −0.606 (P < 0.001) in metacarpophalangeal joints and r = −0.518 (P < 0.001) in proximal interphalangeal joints. Inter-observer and intra-observer agreement of the semi-automated method using tomosynthesis images was in almost perfect agreement with intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) values of 0.964 and 0.963, respectively. The semi-automated method using tomosynthesis images provided sensitive, quantitative, and reproducible measurement of finger joint space in patients with RA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, North-12 West-5, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 060-0812, Japan

    Shota Ichikawa & Takahiko Kaneda

  2. Faculty of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, North-12 West-5, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 060-0812, Japan

    Tamotsu Kamishima

  3. Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, North-15 West-7, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 060-8638, Japan

    Kenneth Sutherland

  4. Department of Rheumatology, Sapporo Medical Center NTT EC, South-1 West-15, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, 060-0061, Japan

    Hideki Kasahara

  5. Division of Rheumatology, Endocrinology and Nephrology, Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Kita-15, Nishi-7, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 060-8638, Japan

    Yuka Shimizu

  6. Department of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, North-12 West-5, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 060-0812, Japan

    Motoshi Fujimori

  7. Department of Radiology, Sapporo Medical Center NTT EC, South-1 West-15, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, 060-0061, Japan

    Nobutoshi Yasojima & Yohei Ono

  8. Sapporo Medical Center NTT EC, South-1 West-15, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, 060-0061, Japan

    Takao Koike

Authors
  1. Shota Ichikawa
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  2. Tamotsu Kamishima
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  3. Kenneth Sutherland
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  9. Takahiko Kaneda
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  10. Takao Koike
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tamotsu Kamishima.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Ichikawa, S., Kamishima, T., Sutherland, K. et al. Semi-Automated Quantification of Finger Joint Space Narrowing Using Tomosynthesis in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis. J Digit Imaging 30, 369–375 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10278-017-9949-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10278-017-9949-6

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