Quality control of regional wall motion analysis in stress Echo 2020

Background: The trial "Stress Echo (SE) 2020" evaluates novel applications of SE beyond coronary artery disease. The aim of the study was control quality and harmonize reading criteria.Methods: One reader from 78 centers of the SE 2020 network asked for credentials to read a set of 20 SE videoclips selected by the core lab. All aspiring centers met the pre-requisite of high-volume and the years of experience in SE ranged from 5 to 31 years (mean value 18 years). The diagnostic gold standard was a reading by the core lab. The a priori determined pass threshold was 18/20 (>= 90%).Results: Of the initial 78 who started, 57 completed the first attempt: individual readers' score on first attempt ranged from 07/20 to 20/20 (accuracy from 35% to 100%, mean 78.7 +/- 13%) and 44 readers passed it. There was a very poor correlation between years of experience and the reader's score on first attempt (r = -0.161, p = 0.231). Of the 13 readers who failed the first attempt, 12 took it again after the web-based session and their accuracy improved (74% vs. 96%, p < 0.001). The kappa inter-observer agreement before and after web-based training was 0.59 on first attempt and rose to 0.91 on the last attempt.Conclusions: In SE reading, the volume of activity or years of experience is not synonymous with diagnostic quality. Qualitative analysis and operator-dependence can become a limiting weakness in clinical practice, in the absence of strict pathways of learning, credentialing and audit. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.