Reliability of Subjective Assessment of Spectral-Domain OCT Pathologic Features by Multiple Raters in Retinal Vein Occlusion

Abstract

To examine the interrater and intrarater reliability of qualitatively and quantitatively assessed disorganization of retinal inner layers (DRIL) and disorganization of retinal outer layers (DROL) by multiple raters. Subjectively assessing these surrogate biomarkers can be challenging in daily routine, despite the high resolution of spectral-domain (SD) OCT scans.Design: Retrospective trial.Participants: Three hundred six pooled SD OCT scans of 34 patients treated for macular edema caused by retinal vein occlusion (RVO) between January 2016 and December 2017.Methods: SD OCT scans were assessed by 6 raters regarding presence of cystoid macular edema, subretinal fluid (SRF), vitreoretinal traction, and epiretinal membrane and extent of DRIL and DROL.Main Outcome Measures: Interrater and intrarater reliability were calculated applying k statistics for qualitative assessment regarding each pathologic feature's presence in all evaluated OCT scans, and for quantified horizontal DRIL and DROL extent within each OCT cross-section.Results: Cystoid macular edema and SRF assessments revealed excellent inter-and intrarater reliability with almost perfect strength of agreement, whereas subjective DRIL and DROL evaluations yielded low k statistics with slight to moderate strength of agreement. Furthermore, the presence of SRF remarkably compromised the reliability of DROL detection. Conclusions: Our data highlight the limited subjective assessibility of DRIL and DROL, underscoring the need for automated image analysis to improve the reliability of OCT biomarkers for clinical studies and daily practice.

Impact of Pachychoroid and DRIL on the Treatment of Diabetic Macular Oedema with Intravitreal Bevacizumab

“…However, assessment of DRILs revealed only a low level of reliability. The limited quality of subjective assessment of DRILs emphasises the need for trusted standard OCT classifications to guide clinical trials [31].…”

Optical coherence tomography biomarkers DROL, PROS, SND, hyperreflective walls of foveal cystoid spaces as predictors of central macular thickness and visual acuity in diabetic macular edema treated with intravitreal ranibizumab

“… Quantitative biomarkers DROL was taken as the horizontal extent in microns, for which any boundaries between the external limiting membrane (ELM), ellipsoid zone (EZ), and interdigitation zone (IZ) could not be identified in the 1 mm foveal area. [ 6 ] Using the inbuilt caliper of the IMAGEnet 6 capture software, a vertical line was drawn from the center of the fovea to the outermost retinal hyperreflective layer, that is, RPE. One horizontal line measuring 500 µm was drawn on either side of the vertical line to delineate the central 1 mm foveal area.…”