Digital Otoscopy Videos Versus Composite Images: A Reader Study to Compare the Accuracy of ENT Physicians. Laryngoscope 2021 May;131(5):E1668-E1676
Date
11/11/2020Pubmed ID
33170529Pubmed Central ID
PMC8610175DOI
10.1002/lary.29253Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85096655776 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 8 CitationsAbstract
OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: With the increasing emphasis on developing effective telemedicine approaches in Otolaryngology, this study explored whether a single composite image stitched from a digital otoscopy video provides acceptable diagnostic information to make an accurate diagnosis, as compared with that provided by the full video.
STUDY DESIGN: Diagnostic survey analysis.
METHODS: Five Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) physicians reviewed the same set of 78 digital otoscope eardrum videos from four eardrum conditions: normal, effusion, retraction, and tympanosclerosis, along with the composite images generated by a SelectStitch method that selectively uses video frames with computer-assisted selection, as well as a Stitch method that incorporates all the video frames. Participants provided a diagnosis for each item along with a rating of diagnostic confidence. Diagnostic accuracy for each pathology of SelectStitch was compared with accuracy when reviewing the entire video clip and when reviewing the Stitch image.
RESULTS: There were no significant differences in diagnostic accuracy for physicians reviewing SelectStitch images and full video clips, but both provided better diagnostic accuracy than Stitch images. The inter-reader agreement was moderate.
CONCLUSIONS: Equal to using full video clips, composite images of eardrums generated by SelectStitch provided sufficient information for ENTs to make the correct diagnoses for most pathologies. These findings suggest that use of a composite eardrum image may be sufficient for telemedicine approaches to ear diagnosis, eliminating the need for storage and transmission of large video files, along with future applications for improved documentation in electronic medical record systems, patient/family counseling, and clinical training.
LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 3 Laryngoscope, 131:E1668-E1676, 2021.
Author List
Binol H, Niazi MKK, Essig G, Shah J, Mattingly JK, Harris MS, Elmaraghy C, Teknos T, Taj-Schaal N, Yu L, Gurcan MN, Moberly ACAuthor
Michael S. Harris MD Associate Professor in the Otolaryngology department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
Ear DiseasesFeasibility Studies
Female
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Male
Observer Variation
Otolaryngologists
Otolaryngology
Otoscopy
Surveys and Questionnaires
Telemedicine
Tympanic Membrane
Video Recording
