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Quality Assurance and its impact on ovarian visualisation rates in the multicentre United Kingdom Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening (UKCTOCS)

Sharma, A; Burnell, M; Gentry-Maharaj, A; Campbell, S; Amso, NN; Seif, MW; Fletcher, G; ... Menon, U; + view all (2015) Quality Assurance and its impact on ovarian visualisation rates in the multicentre United Kingdom Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening (UKCTOCS). Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology , 47 (2) pp. 228-235. 10.1002/uog.14929. Green open access

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Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To describe the quality assurance (QA) processes and their impact on visualisation of postmenopausal ovaries in the ultrasound arm of a multicentre ovarian cancer screening trial. METHODS: In UKCTOCS, 50,640 women aged 50-74 at recruitment were randomised to the ultrasound arm and underwent annual transvaginal scans. QA processes were developed during the course of the trial and included regular monitoring of Visualisation Rate (VR) of right ovary. Non-subjective factors previously identified as impacting on VR of right ovary were included in a generalised estimating equation(GEE) model for binary outcomes to enable comparison of observed versus adjusted VR between individual sonographers who had undertaken >1000scans on trial /centres. Analysis of annual VR of sonographers / centres was undertaken. RESULTS: Between June 2001 and December 2010, across 13 centres, 48230 (of 50639) women attended for 270035 annual transvaginal scans. One or both ovaries were seen in 84.5% (228145/270035) of scans. The observed VR of the right ovary was 72.7% (196426/270035). For the 78 sonographers included in the model, the median difference between observed and adjusted VR was 2% (range 0-8%) and median change in rank was 3 (range 0-18). For the 13 centres, the median difference between observed versus adjusted VR was 0% (range 0-2%) with no change in ranking. The median adjusted VR for sonographers was 73% (IQR 65-82%) and for centres was 74.7% (IQR 67.1-79.0%). Despite increasing age of the cohort, there was a steady decrease in the number of sonographers with VR<60% (21.4% in 2002 to 2.1% in 2010)and a rise in those with VR >80% (14.3% in 2002 to 40.8 % in 2010). Median centre VR increased from 65.5% (range 55.7-81.0%) in 2001 to 80.3% (range74.5%-90.9%) in 2010. CONCLUSIONS: A robust QA programme can improve visualisation of postmenopausal ovaries and is an essential component of ultrasound-based ovarian cancer screening trials. While VR should be adjusted for non-subjective factors that impact on ovarian visualisation, subjective factors are likely to be the largest contributors to VR differences.

Type: Article
Title: Quality Assurance and its impact on ovarian visualisation rates in the multicentre United Kingdom Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening (UKCTOCS)
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1002/uog.14929
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/uog.14929
Additional information: © 2015 The Authors. Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. on behalf of the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Keywords: UKCTOCS, ovarian cancer screening, ovarian visualisation, postmenopausal women, quality assurance, transvaginal scan
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Inst of Clinical Trials and Methodology
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Inst of Clinical Trials and Methodology > MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Epidemiology and Public Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL EGA Institute for Womens Health
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1473960
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