Scientific publications

Two-Step Strategy for Optimizing the Preoperative Classification of Adnexal Masses in a University Hospital, Using International Ovarian Tumor Analysis Models

Feb 1, 2022 | Magazine: Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine

Alba Liliana Esquivel Villabona  1   2 , Juan Nicolás Rodríguez  1 , Nathalia Ayala  1   2 , Catalina Buriticá  2   3 , Alejandra Catalina Gómez  2 , Aura Milena Velandia  2 , Nadiezhda Rodríguez  1   2 , Juan Luis Alcázar  4


Objectives: To evaluate the performance of a two-step strategy compared with the International Ovarian Tumor Analysis (IOTA) - Assessment of Different NEoplasias in the adneXa (ADNEX) model for preoperative classification of adnexal masses.

Methods: An ambispective diagnostic accuracy study based on ultrasound data collected at one university hospital between 2012 and 2018. Two ultrasonographers classified the adnexal masses using IOTA Simple Rules (first step).

Not classifiable masses were evaluated using the IOTA ADNEX model (second step). Also, all masses were classified using the IOTA ADNEX model. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV), positive likelihood ratio (LR+) and negative likelihood ratio (LR-), and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were estimated. A P value of <.05 was used to determine statistical significance.

Results: The study included 548 patients and 606 masses. Patients' median age was 41 years with an interquartile range between 32 and 51 years. In the first step, 89 (14%) masses were not classifiable. In the second step, 55 (61.8%) masses were classified as malignant.

Furthermore, for the totality of 606 masses, the IOTA ADNEX model estimated the probability that 126 (20.8%) masses were malignant. The two-step strategy had a sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, LR+, LR-, and ROC curve of 86.8%, 91.01%, 51.9%, 98.4%, 9.7, 0.1, and 0.889, respectively; compared to IOTA ADNEX model that had values of 91.8%, 87.16%, 44.4%, 99%, 7.1, 0.09, and 0.895, respectively.

Conclusion: The two-step strategy shows a similar diagnostic performance when compared to the IOTA ADNEX model. The IOTA ADNEX model involves only one step and can be more practical, and thus would be recommended to use.

CITATION J Ultrasound Med. 2022 Feb;41(2):471-482.
doi: 10.1002/jum.15728. Epub 2021 Apr 23.