Interobserver Reproducibility Assessment of the New Aospine Classification for Subaxial Cervical Lesions

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the interobserver agreement of the new AOSpine classification for subaxial cervical fractures. Methods: A descriptive study, which11 traumatic lesions of the subaxial cervical spine (through radiographic and tomographic images), were evaluated by 16 observers being: 6 senior surgeons, 4 fellows in spinal surgery and 6 physicians residents in Orthopedics and Traumatology by the new AOSpine classification, with subsequent statistical analysis of the results. An agreement analysis was performed using the Kappa coefficient, both individually and in combination, with an interpretation of the index performed using the standardized model for Landis and Koch. To determine the level of significance of the analyzes, values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: In general, the level of agreement among the examiners was considered reasonable. The lesions “A0 (F3)”, “A4 (F3)”, “B1”, “B3”, “B3 (F3)”, “C”, “C (F3)” and “F3”showed a low level of agreement between the examiners. The level of reasonable agreement was obtained between fractures “A0”, “A1”, “A4”, “B2” and “C (F4)”. The only fracture that presented a moderate level of agreement was the “C (F4 BL)” lesion. This result indicates that the referred injury was the fracture of the subaxial column that presented the best level of agreement among the 16 examiners in the present study. Conclusions: The results of the study indicate an intermediate agreement of the new AOSpine classification for subaxial cervical lesion and point to the need to carry out studies that seek to evaluate this new classification in order to better evaluate its strengths and weaknesses, contributing for its improvement. Level of evidence III; Diagnostic study - investigation of a diagnostic test.

Valoración de traumatismo en columna cervical subaxial por el médico de primer contacto

“…approximately 65% of fractures and more than 75% of all spinal dislocations, with an annual incidence of 150,000 cases in North America, of which 11,000 have SCI to some degree. 1,2 The sixth and seventh cervical vertebrae together account for 39% of all cervical spine fractures. The most common causes are car accidents (41%), falls (27%), violence (15%), sports (8%), and trauma from a heavy object falling on the head (3%).…”