Inter- and intratester reliability values of ultrasound imaging measurements of diaphragm movement in the thoracic and thoracolumbar curves in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine intertester and intratester reliability of ultrasound measurements of bilateral diaphragm excursions in the thoracic and thoracolumbar spinal curves of 31 females with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) (mean age = 14.1 ± 1.8 years). Method: Subjects were tested during tidal breathing using real-time ultrasound imaging with a 3.5 MHz curvilinear transducer. Results: There were no significant differences in intratester and intertester reliability values in bilateral diaphragmatic excursions measured at the thoracolumbar spinal curve, whereas significant differences were observed in measurements taken at the thoracic spinal curve (p < 0.05). Overall, the intertester and intratester reliabilities of the thoracic and thoracolumbar curves in AIS ranged from 0.764 to 0.998. Conclusions: These findings suggest that ultrasound imaging is highly reliable between and within testers and is useful to precisely discriminate pathological diaphragm movement in idiopathic thoracic scoliosis and idiopathic thoracolumbar scoliosis.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis
• diaphragm movement
• reliability
• ultrasound imaging

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Hyung-Wook Kim, PT, for his assistance in ultrasound measurement and data processing. We also thank Jae-Jin Lee, PT, for his technical advice and help in ultrasound imaging measurements for the diaphragm movement.

Declaration of interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interests.