Point of care ultrasonography in patients with haemophilia and acute haemarthrosis: a physiotherapist and sonographer inter-professional agreement pilot study

Abstract Background Haemophilia treatment centres (HTCs) around the world are increasingly adopting point-of-care ultrasonography (POCUS) for the assessment of acute haemarthrosis and to monitor joint health. POCUS is in large part administered by physiotherapists in most comprehensive care teams. Appropriate implementation of haemophilia-specific POCUS requires an educational foundation and training to ensure competency and optimal outcomes. Inter-professional agreement and evaluation of image quality are important measures of competency and acceptable use of POCUS. Aims To determine the level of agreement between physiotherapist and sonographer-performed POCUS scans and to compare the quality of the ultrasound images obtained by physiotherapists to those obtained by the sonographer. Methods This single blind, prospective, pilot study recruited patients with haemophilia A and B who presented to clinic with a suspected acute haemarthrosis of the elbow, knee, or ankle and consented to participate. POCUS scans were performed by one trained physiotherapist and one sonographer in the haemophilia ambulatory clinic at patient presentation, one-week follow-up, and two-week follow-up. The physiotherapist participated in formal training consisting of 12 hours of online didactic modules and a two-day, 12-hour practical module with instructor-led hands-on training. For the primary objective, the outcome of interest was the binary decision on the presence or absence of blood within the joint. For the secondary objective, image quality was evaluated by the radiologist post hoc and rated as optimal, acceptable, or sub-optimal. Results Thirteen participants with haemophilia consented to the study. The results indicated an excellent level of agreement (k=0.80) with an observed agreement of 91.7%, a specific positive agreement of 94.1%, and a specific negative agreement of 85.7% for the detection of blood within the joint space. The quality of the ultrasound images obtained by the physiotherapist were rated by the radiologist as optimal (84.6%) and acceptable (15.4%). None of the images were rated as sub-optimal. Conclusion Optimal image quality and a high level of agreement between the physiotherapist and sonographer-performed POCUS for the assessment of acute hemarthrosis in people with haemophilia A and B was observed. These results suggest that, with a short formal training programme, physiotherapists can be proficient in the performance, acquisition, and interpretation of POCUS scans in patients with haemophilia.