We consider the problem of comparing sojourn time distributions of a transient state in a general multistate system in two samples (groups) when the transition times are right censored. Using the reweighting principle, a two-sample Mann– Whitney type of U -statistic is constructed that compares only the uncensored sojourn times from the two distributions. A second Mann–Whitney type of statistic...

Editor: I read with great interest the article by Dr Megibow and colleagues (1) in the January 2006 issue of Radiology. I have some concerns about the Materials and Methods and Results sections of this article. In the Materials and Methods section, under the subtitle “Statistical Analysis,” the authors state that the two groups included in their study were compared with respect to the mean valu...