Anovaginal Distance, Interobserver Agreement

Interobserver Agreement in Perineal Ultrasound of the Anovaginal Distance- a Methodology-study

Status

Completed

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Observational

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT02943018

Enrollment

Registered

2016-10-24

Start date

2013-05-31

Completion date

2016-06-30

Last updated

2016-10-24

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Pelvic Floor Disorders

Keywords

ultrasound anovaginal distance, observer variation

Brief summary

Interobserver variation in measuring the anovaginal distance (AVD) with perineal ultrasound

Detailed description

Aims: This study describes perineal ultrasound measurement of the AVD in regard to ease of learning and interobserver agreement, in order to establish if the method is reliable to use in further research about objective postpartum description of perineal tears. Methods: To educate the examiners, the method was shown and described by an experienced examiner. The examiners then measured the anovaginal distance in one woman repeatedly with until similar results (+/- 5 mm ) were achieved. The woman was in the lithotomy position and a vaginal ultrasound probe was used. The AVD in another 40 women was then measured and documented by two examiners, right after the other, who were blinded to the other´s results. The distance was measured between the mucosal margin of the internal anal sphincter and the vaginal probe. Interobserver agreement was calculated using Kappa-score.

Interventions

OTHERanovaginal distance variation

Kappa calculation

Study design

Time perspective

PROSPECTIVE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

FEMALE

Age

20 Years to 100 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

Examiners; the gynecologists authoring the study Patients: * any women visiting the gynaecological outpatient clinic of Linköping University Hospital where a vaginal ultrasound examination was performed

Exclusion criteria

Examiners: n/a Patients: * inability to understand spoken or written Swedish

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
interobserver variation in measurements of the anovaginal distance with perineal ultrasound	immediate	3 measurements per investigator and patient, comparing variation, using kappa value

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Ease of learning the technique of perineal ultrasound to measure the anovaginal distance	immediate	how many measurements did the investigator learning the procedure need to perform produce a measurement that was within 5 mm of the measurements of the teacher

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026