The Weeke Score Is an Easy-to-Teach and Reliable System for Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging Scoring.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the imaging of choice to diagnose brain injury and prognosticate long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes in infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). Independent scoring from Neuroradiology and Neonatology fellows was obtained for 97 brain MRIs for HIE after teaching. Analysis for reliability was compared against a gold standard of an experienced Neuroradiologist. There was good (intraclass correlation coefficient: 0.87) reliability for the Neonatology fellow and excellent (intraclass correlation coefficient: 0.94) reliability for the Neuroradiology fellow compared with the Neuroradiologist. This suggests that the scoring system used has good interobserver reliability between less experienced readers compared with an experienced reader.