The Rainbow Scale for Assessing Breast Ptosis

Validation of Three Different Views

Eyck, Ben M. BSc
van Dongen, Joris A. BSc
Athanassopoulos, Thanassi MD
Bastos Martins, João MD
Stevens, Hieronymus P. MD, PhD

Mr Eyck is a Student at the Faculty of Medicine, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Mr van Dongen is a PhD candidate, Department of Plastic Surgery, University of Groningen and University Medical Centre Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands. Dr Athanassopoulos is a Locum Consultant Plastic Surgeon, Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery, University Hospitals of South Manchester, Manchester, UK. Dr Bastos Martins is a plastic surgeon in private practice, Lisbon, Portugal. Dr Stevens is a plastic surgeon in private practice, The Hague, the Netherlands

Corresponding Author: Mr Ben M. Eyck, Westersingel 233, Rotterdam 3015LJ, the Netherlands. E-mail: [email protected]

Accepted June 28, 2016

Aesthetic Surgery Journal (ASJ) 36(9):p 1010-1016, October 2016. | DOI: 10.1093/asj/sjw129

Background

Photographic scales have become an increasingly used tool in objectively assessing outcomes in aesthetic surgery. However, no online photographic scale for assessing breast ptosis has been developed yet that is readily available.

Objectives

This study was designed to validate the online Rainbow Scale for the assessment of breast ptosis for the anterior-posterior (AP), lateral, and oblique views.

Methods

For the five grades of the Rainbow Scale format, standardized reference photographs were selected. Six plastic surgeons rated 15 photographs for each view three times. Intra- and inter-observer agreements were calculated by using the weighted kappa coefficient and differences in intra- and inter-observer agreements between the three views were assessed for statistical significance using the Kruskal-Wallis test.

Results

The mean intra-observer agreements were 0.91 (range, 0.82-0.98) for the AP view, 0.88 (range, 0.77-1.00) for the oblique view, and 0.86 (range, 0.74-0.97) for the lateral view and did not vary significantly between all three views. The mean inter-observer agreements were 0.88 (range, 0.77-0.95) for the AP view, 0.84 (range, 0.72-0.94) for the oblique view, and 0.82 (range, 0.58-0.95) for the lateral view. The mean inter-observer agreements of the AP view varied significantly from the oblique view (P = .012) and the lateral view (P = .001).

Conclusions

The Rainbow Scale for breast ptosis has been validated for the AP view, the lateral view, and the oblique view and is reproducible and reliable for the assessment of breast ptosis in three different views in an online setup.

Level of Evidence

Diagnostic