The APOSTEL recommendations for reporting quantitative optical coherence tomography studies

Andrés Cruz-Herranz; Lisanne J Balk; Timm Oberwahrenbrock; Shiv Saidha; Elena H Martinez-Lapiscina; Wolf A Lagreze; Joel S Schuman; Pablo Villoslada; Peter Calabresi; Laura Balcer; Axel Petzold; Ari J Green; Friedemann Paul; Alexander U Brandt; Philipp Albrecht; IMSVISUAL consortium

doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000002774

The APOSTEL recommendations for reporting quantitative optical coherence tomography studies

Neurology. 2016 Jun 14;86(24):2303-9. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000002774. Epub 2016 May 25.

Authors

Collaborators

IMSVISUAL consortium:
Jaime Imitola, Ahmed Toosy, Hanna Zimmermann, Olivier Outteryck, Rachel Nolan, Scott Kolbe, Jette Lautrup Frederiksen Battistini, Orhan Aktas, Letizia Leocani, Ann Yeh, Joachim Havla, Marius Ringelstein, Gorm Pihl-Jensen, Jana L Preiningerova, Sven Schippling, Fiona Costello

Affiliations

¹ From the Multiple Sclerosis Center (A.C.-H., P.V., A.J.G.), Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco; Departments of Neurology and Ophthalmology (L.J.B., A.P.), VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin (T.O., F.P., A.U.B.), NeuroCure Clinical Research Center; Department of Neurology (T.O., F.P., A.U.B.), Experimental and Clinical Research Center, Max Delbrueck Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin, Germany; Department of Neurology (S.S., P.C.), Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD; Center of Neuroimmunology and Department of Neurology (E.H.M.-L., P.V.), Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Spain; Eye Center (W.A.L.), University Medical Center, Freiburg, Germany; Departments of Ophthalmology (J.S.S.) and Neurology (L.B.), New York University School of Medicine, New York; Moorfields Eye Hospital and The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (A.P.), London, UK; and Department of Neurology (P.A.), Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany.
² From the Multiple Sclerosis Center (A.C.-H., P.V., A.J.G.), Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco; Departments of Neurology and Ophthalmology (L.J.B., A.P.), VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin (T.O., F.P., A.U.B.), NeuroCure Clinical Research Center; Department of Neurology (T.O., F.P., A.U.B.), Experimental and Clinical Research Center, Max Delbrueck Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin, Germany; Department of Neurology (S.S., P.C.), Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD; Center of Neuroimmunology and Department of Neurology (E.H.M.-L., P.V.), Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Spain; Eye Center (W.A.L.), University Medical Center, Freiburg, Germany; Departments of Ophthalmology (J.S.S.) and Neurology (L.B.), New York University School of Medicine, New York; Moorfields Eye Hospital and The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (A.P.), London, UK; and Department of Neurology (P.A.), Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany. [email protected].

Abstract

Objective: To develop consensus recommendations for reporting of quantitative optical coherence tomography (OCT) study results.

Methods: A panel of experienced OCT researchers (including 11 neurologists, 2 ophthalmologists, and 2 neuroscientists) discussed requirements for performing and reporting quantitative analyses of retinal morphology and developed a list of initial recommendations based on experience and previous studies. The list of recommendations was subsequently revised during several meetings of the coordinating group.

Results: We provide a 9-point checklist encompassing aspects deemed relevant when reporting quantitative OCT studies. The areas covered are study protocol, acquisition device, acquisition settings, scanning protocol, funduscopic imaging, postacquisition data selection, postacquisition data analysis, recommended nomenclature, and statistical analysis.

Conclusions: The Advised Protocol for OCT Study Terminology and Elements recommendations include core items to standardize and improve quality of reporting in quantitative OCT studies. The recommendations will make reporting of quantitative OCT studies more consistent and in line with existing standards for reporting research in other biomedical areas. The recommendations originated from expert consensus and thus represent Class IV evidence. They will need to be regularly adjusted according to new insights and practices.

Publication types

Consensus Development Conference
Practice Guideline

MeSH terms

Checklist*
Humans
Research Design / standards*
Terminology as Topic
Tomography, Optical Coherence / methods*