Intraobserver and Interobserver Reproducibility of Classifications of Tibial Plateau Fractures and the Surgical Approaches Chosen Comparing 2D CT and 3D Printing: Reliability Study

Abstract

Reliability is the study of internal consistency, reproducibility (intraobserver and interobserver), and agreement. Reproducibility studies that classify tibial plateau fractures have used plain radiography and two-dimensional (2D) CT scans and three-dimensional (3D) printing. The objective of this study was to evaluate the reproducibility of the Luo Classification of tibial plateau factures and the surgical approaches chosen for these fractures based on 2D CT scans and 3D printing. A reliability study was performed at the Universidad Industrial de Santander, Colombia, that evaluated the reproducibility of the Luo Classification of tibial plateau fractures and the choice of surgical approaches based on 20 CT scans and 3D printing, with five evaluators. For the trauma surgeon, reproducibility was better when evaluating the classification using 3D printing, with a kappa of 0.81 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.75-0.93; P < 0.01) than when using CT scans, with a kappa of 0.76 (95% CI, 0.62-0.82; P < 0.01). When comparing the surgical decisions made by the fourth-year resident with those of the trauma surgeon, a fair reproducibility was obtained using CT, with a kappa of 0.34 (95% CI, 0.21-0.46; P < 0.01), which improved to substantial when using 3D printing, with a kappa of 0.63 (95% CI, 0.53-0.73; P < 0.01). This study found that 3D printing provided more information than CT and decreased measurement errors, thereby improving reproducibility, as shown by the higher kappa values that were obtained. The use of 3D printing and its usefulness are helpful to decision making when providing emergency trauma services to patients with intraarticular fractures such as those of the tibial plateau.