Evaluation of multiplanar reconstruction in CT recognition of lumbar disk disease

Evaluation and Comparison of Two Media-Rich Radiology Apps Regarding Pathology of the Lumbar Spine: Lessons for Medical Education App Developers and Content Creators

BACKGROUND

Mobile applications have become an increasingly popular component of medical education over the past 2 decades. Visual layout and aesthetics are important considerations in app design given Generation Z's strong preference for visually appealing digital content. In this study, we evaluate students' perceptions of an educational app related to pathology of the lumbar spine before and after a redesign of its workflow and illustrations.

OBJECTIVE, MATERIAL AND METHODS

A professional user experience and interface designer was recruited for the revision of an iOS app focused on anatomy and pathology of the lumbar spine on abdominal computed tomography (CT). Revisions focused on developing the app to make it more visually appealing, increasing ease of use, and fixing bugs. An IRB-approved study was conducted in which participants were asked to interact with the original and revised versions of the app prior to completing a survey regarding their perception of the graphics, animation style, overall app design, and content.

RESULTS

Overall impressions of the revised app were more positive than the original app, with 89% of respondents finding the revised app's graphics to be visually appealing compared to 39% regarding the original app. Further, 95% of respondents indicated that the revised app's layout was organized and user-friendly compared to 73% regarding the original. Both apps received similarly positive ratings for participants' understanding of the presented materials.

CONCLUSION

User feedback is key when designing mobile health and educational applications. Feedback may be sought via formal usability testing or app-specific surveys. The aesthetics, layout, and ease of use of mobile apps are important considerations and, in the absence of content alteration, may influence user engagement. Knowledge regarding these factors may guide content creators when developing and deploying mobile health applications.

Multiplanar Reformations in the Measurement of Renal Length on CT: Is It Plain Which Plane to Use?

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to determine the accuracy of renal measurement on CT in multiple imaging planes.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In this study, three board-certified radiologists retrospectively measured 110 kidneys on CT in 55 consecutive patients. Five measurement methods were used: axial, coronal single image, coronal multiimage, sagittal single image, and sagittal multiimage. The coronal database was sent to a postprocessing workstation, and each radiologist performed a maximum renal measurement using a best off-axis plane that was our reference standard. An ANOVA test with repeated measures and posthoc Bonferroni corrected t tests were performed.

RESULTS

The mean differences (± standard error) compared with the reference standard method were as follows: axial, 7.7 ± 0.7 mm; coronal single image, 13.1 ± 1.4 mm; coronal multiimage, 6.4 ± 0.8 mm; sagittal single image, 6.4 ± 0.6 mm; and sagittal multiimage, 2.8 ± 0.3 mm. The reference standard measurement was larger (p < 0.001), whereas the coronal single-image measurement (p ≤ 0.006) was smaller than all other methods. The sagittal multiimage (p ≤ 0.005) was statistically significantly different from all other methods. There were no statistically significant differences among the axial, coronal multiimage, and sagittal single-image methods (p ≥ 0.088).

CONCLUSION

The single-image coronal method is the least accurate, with an error of approximately 13 mm. The axial, multiimage coronal, and single-image sagittal methods underestimate renal size by approximately 6-8 mm. Multiimage sagittal is the most accurate method for measuring kidneys with an error of approximately 3 mm.