A Radiologic Grading System for Assessing the Radiographic Outcome of Treatment in Lymphatic and Lymphatic-Venous Malformations of the Head and Neck

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Two-thirds of lymphatic malformations in children are found in the head and neck. Although conventionally managed through surgical resection, percutaneous sclerotherapy has gained popularity. No reproducible grading system has been designed to compare sclerotherapy outcomes on the basis of radiologic findings. We propose an MR imaging?based grading scale to assess the response to sclerotherapy and present an evaluation of its interrater reliability. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A grading system was developed to stratify treatment outcomes on the basis of interval changes observed on MR imaging. By means of this system, 56 consecutive cases from our institution with formally diagnosed head and neck lymphatic malformations treated by sclerotherapy were retrospectively graded. Each patient underwent pre- and posttreatment MR imaging. Each study was evaluated by 3 experienced neuroradiologists. Interrater reliability was assessed using the Krippendorff ? statistic, intraclass coefficient, and 2-way Spearman ? correlation. RESULTS: The overall Krippendorff ? statistic was 0.93 (95% CI, 0.89?0.95), denoting excellent agreement among raters. Intraclass coefficients with respect to consistency and absolute agreements were both 0.97 (95% CI, 0.96?0.98), illustrating low variability. Every combination of individual rater pairs demonstrated statistically significant (P?<?.01) linear Spearman ? correlations, with values ranging from 0.90 to 0.95. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed radiographic grading scale demonstrates excellent interrater reliability. Adoption of this new scale can standardize reported outcomes following sclerotherapy for head and neck lymphatic malformation and may aid in the investigation of future questions regarding optimal management of these lesions.