The inter- and intra-rater reliability of the Maestro and Barroco metatarsal length measurement techniques

Assessment of the Endotracheal Tube Tip Position by Bedside Ultrasound in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction

The chest X-ray (CXR) is the standard of practice to assess the tip of the endotracheal tube (ETT) in ventilated children. In many hospitals, it takes hours to get a bedside CXR, and it has radiation exposure. The objective of this study was to find the utility of bedside ultrasound (USG), in assessing the ETT tip position in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).

Methods

It was a prospective study conducted in the PICU of a tertiary care center involving 135 children aged from 1 month to 60 months, requiring endotracheal intubation. In this study, the authors compared the position of the ETT tip by the CXR (gold standard) and USG. The CXR was taken in children to assess the correct position of the tip of ETT. The USG was used to measure the distance between the tip of ETT and the arch of the aorta, thrice in the same patient. The mean of the three USG readings was compared with the distance between the tip of the ETT and carina in CXR.

Results

The reliability of three USG readings was tested by absolute agreement coefficient in intraclass correlation (ICC), 0.986 (95% CI: 0.981-0.989). The sensitivity and specificity of the USG in identifying the correct position of the ETT tip in children when compared to CXR were 98.10% (95% CI: 93.297-99.71%) and 50.0% (95% CI: 31.30-68.70%), respectively.

Conclusion

In ventilated children <60 months of age, identifying the tip of ETTs by bedside the USG has good sensitivity (98.10%) but poor specificity (50.0%).

How to cite this article

Subramani S, Parameswaran N, Ananthkrishnan R, Abraham S, Chidambaram M, Rameshkumar R, et al. Assessment of the Endotracheal Tube Tip Position by Bedside Ultrasound in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: A Cross-sectional Study. Indian J Crit Care Med 2022;26(11):1218-1224.

The agreement and repeatability of measurements of ankle joint dorsiflexion and poplietal angle in healthy adolescents

Background

The intra-rater repeatability and inter-rater agreement of orthopaedics measurements are important for estimating injury risk and appropriate treatment. In clinical practice, it is often unavoidable to trust the measurements of other health professionals.

Methods

This study tested the agreement and repeatability of measurements of the dorsiflexion of the foot, dorsiflexion with 90-degrees knee flexion, and popliteal angle test in healthy adolescents performed twice by three raters differing in clinical experience. Three raters, i.e., an orthopaedics specialist (16 years of experience), a resident medical doctor in orthopaedics (4 years of experience), and a physiotherapy student (1 year of experience) measured the ankle joint dorsiflexion and the popliteal angle in 142 healthy adolescent subjects.

Results

The student outperformed more experienced raters by displaying good repeatability for all the evaluated parameters. The orthopaedics specialist failed to replicate the measurements of the left ankle joint passive dorsiflexion and the left popliteal angle. The medical resident in orthopaedics displayed a lack of repeatability in evaluating the right ankle joint dorsiflexion with the knee joint bent. Kendall’s W value for all parameters ranged 0.66–0.78, indicating a good inter-rater agreement.

Conclusions

The study highlights that measurements of the ankle joint dorsiflexion and popliteal angle test by different health professionals can generally be trusted. It indicates that novice health professionals could potentially evaluate such parameters in healthy subjects without a quality loss.

Minimally Invasive Distal Metatarsal Metaphyseal Osteotomy of the Lesser Toes: Clinical, Radiologic, and Pedobarographic Outcomes

BACKGROUND

The minimally invasive distal metatarsal metaphyseal osteotomy (DMMO) is a percutaneous operative technique with the aim to relieve the symptoms of metatarsalgia. To our knowledge, no previous research has analyzed both pre- and postoperative pedobarographic data including the changes in plantar pressure.

METHODS

Thirty patients (31 feet) were operated on with a DMMO and included in a prospective study. Clinical, radiologic, and pedobarographic outcomes were evaluated in comparison with the preoperative parameters. The American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS) forefoot score, the Foot Function Index (FFI), the Foot and Ankle Outcome Score (FAOS), and a visual analog scale (VAS) for pain were used in order to assess clinical parameters. Radiographs were taken to compare metatarsal lengths. The pedobarographic analysis served to determine plantar peak pressure (PPP) beneath the metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joints.

RESULTS

All scores indicated a significant mean pre- to postoperative improvement (AOFAS = 31.9 points, FAOS = 16.3%, FFI = 24.3%, VAS pain = 4.1 points, VAS general limitation = 3.3 points) (P < .05). PPP was substantially reduced in the relevant area (M6 [plantar area beneath the second and third MTP joint] had a mean pre to post PPP = 14.15 N/cm²) and concurrently higher in the lateral and medial MTP joint areas (M5 mean pre to post = +14.37, M7 pre to post = +7.11). Our mean metatarsal shortening was 6.6 mm. However, our findings do not demonstrate a significant correlation between metatarsal length relationships and the prevalence of metatarsalgia.

CONCLUSION

Our results demonstrate a significant improvement in clinical scores and PPP. A statistically significant relation between metatarsal length and the prevalence of metatarsalgia was not found in this prospective case series.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Level IV, case series.