Background
Personal-device-based point-of-care-ultrasound (P-POCUS) probes plug directly into
a cell phone or tablet to function as its display, creating the potential to increase
access to obstetric ultrasonography in complex healthcare settings (COVID units, low
resource settings); however, new technology must be proven to be reliable in the obstetric
setting before integrating into practice.
Objective
To evaluate the intraclass correlation (reliability) of personal-device-based-point-of-care-ultrasound
devices as compared with standard ultrasound machines in obstetrics.
Study Design
This was a prospective, observational study of patients between 19–39 weeks gestation
in an urban, prenatal ultrasound diagnosis center. Each patient underwent assessment
by an expert sonographer using standard ultrasound machines and personal-device-based-point-of-care-ultrasound
devices to determine estimated fetal weight. The statistical reliability and agreement
between the estimated fetal weights was assessed through intraclass correlation coefficients,
Bland-Altman plots, and Pearson correlation coefficients.
Results
100 paired sets of scans were performed from October 2020 to December 2020. For the
estimated fetal weights, there was near-perfect agreement, with an intraclass correlation
coefficient of 0.99 (P<.0001). Bland-Altman analysis showed an average difference of 53 grams, with 95%
limit of agreement between −178 grams and 283 grams. Pearson correlation showed near-perfect
correlation between the measurements (r=0.99, P<.0001).
Conclusion
personal-device-based point-of-care-ultrasound devices are reliable tools for performing
basic obstetrical ultrasound and have the potential to increase access to obstetrical
ultrasound worldwide.
Key words
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: November 10, 2021
Accepted:
November 1,
2021
Received in revised form:
October 29,
2021
Received:
September 6,
2021
Footnotes
The authors report no conflict of interest.
Pocket ultrasound devices were provided by Butterfly iQ at no cost to the researchers; however, the company had no involvement in the study design, data collection, data analysis, or interpretation of the data.
Cite this article as: Leggett CB, Naqvi M, Esakoff TF, et al. Personal-device-based point-of-care ultrasound for obstetrics: a validation study. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2022;226:552.e1-6.
Identification
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