
pmid: 9612924
handle: 11591/183033
Defecography is considered to be an essential investigation in the evaluation of functional anorectal disorders, but the agreement between observers from different clinical centers has never been evaluated.14 defecographic studies were selected aimed to cover the most relevant defecographic findings responsible for disordered defecation. Eight studies were considered unequivocal, but six were thought to be controversial. All were sent to the ten participants in Europe and the US (five proctosurgeons, three radiologists, two gastroenterologists). They evaluated the studies using a previously agreed upon questionnaire. Interobserver agreement was quantified by kappa statistics and by the proportions of positive and negative agreement as compared to chance agreement, respectively.Overall, only the completeness of rectal emptying and the presence of a rectocele achieved acceptable kappa values above 0.4. When restricting the evaluation to the studies considered to be unequivocal, agreement improved considerably and was moderate to good for all items describing the images (kappa 0.43-0.63). However, whether proctosurgery should be performed and whether defecography contributed to the management of the particular patient remained controversial with very low kappa.It is doubtful whether defecography contributes substantially to the management of patients with disordered defecation.
Cross-Cultural Comparison, Male, Observer Variation, Anus Diseases, Reproducibility of Results, Sensitivity and Specificity, United States, Europe, Rectal Diseases, Humans, Female, Defecography
Cross-Cultural Comparison, Male, Observer Variation, Anus Diseases, Reproducibility of Results, Sensitivity and Specificity, United States, Europe, Rectal Diseases, Humans, Female, Defecography
| citations The total number of citations received by all articles of the researcher of interest. | 36 | |
| popularity This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network. | Average | |
| influence This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | Top 10% | |
| impulse This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network. | Average |
