A three-dimensional electronic report of a venous echo color Doppler of the lower limbs: MEVeC®

Abstract

Aldo Innocente Galeandro,1 Pietro Scicchitano,2 Annapaola Zito,2 Cristina Galeandro,2 Michele Gesualdo,2 Francesco Ciciarello,3 Annagrazia Cecere,2 Andrea Marzullo,4 Vincenzo Contursi,5 Annamaria Annicchiarico,1 Marco Matteo Ciccone2 1Department of Science and Technology, University of Bari, Bari, Italy; 2Cardiovascular Diseases Section, Department of Emergency and Organ Transplantation (DETO), University of Bari, Bari, Italy; 3Department of Cardiovascular, Respiratory, Geriatric and Morphologic Sciences of "Umberto I" Polyclinic of Rome, "Sapienza" University, Rome, Italy; 4Department of Emergency and Organ Transplantation (DETO), Pathology Division, Medical School, University of Bari, Bari, Italy; 5Italian Society for Interdisciplinary Primary Care, Bari, Italy Background: The reports of ultrasound evaluation of lower limb veins are difficult to understand by general practitioners (GPs) and physicians who are not specialized. We developed software for a three-dimensional (3D) electronic report of venous hemodynamic mapping (MEVeC®) in order to represent lower limb venous vasculature in a 3D way. The aim of the study is to compare the novel 3D report with the standard report. Methods: Thirty subjects (medical students and GPs) evaluated a standard report and a novel 3D report of the lower limb veins of a prespecified patient. The cases were randomly and blindly taken from an archive of 100 cases. GPs and students answered a questionnaire made up of 13 questions that were structured in order to investigate the readability and comprehension of the two reports. A score ranging from 0 to 10 (0= not understandable; 10= full comprehension) was attributed to each report for each question according to the readability of the venous scheme proposed. Results: The scores from each question of the questionnaire were compared. The 3D report (MEVeC®) obtained higher scores than those from the evaluation of the standard report (P<0.0001). Each question revealed the superiority of the 3D report (MEVeC®) as compared with the standard report of the ultrasound evaluation of lower limbs. When dividing the scores according to percentiles, the 3D report (MEVeC®) still continued to show more readability than the standard report in a statistically significant way (P<0.0001). Conclusion: The new 3D report (MEVeC®) concerning ultrasound evaluation of lower limb veins is more reproducible than the standard report when evaluated by medical physicians not specialized in the evaluation of the vein tree of lower limbs. Keywords: vein 3D report, ultrasound evaluation, lower limb veins, standard report