title: Inter- and intra-pathologist variability in histologic diagnoses of lung cancer.
abstract: To estimate variability and reliability in histologic diagnosis (Dx) of lung cancers, lung cancer preparations were divided into eight equal sets and diagnosed independently by an eight-man pathology panel. Majority Dx (Dx affirmed by more than 4 panelists) was regarded as the consensus Dx of each cancer. The consensus rate of each panelist ranged from 78.8% to 96.1% with an average of 89.4%. The consensus rates were not significantly different among the panelists. Relatively high inter-pathologist agreement was observed in squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, and small cell carcinoma. However, regarding large cell carcinoma, there was occasional disagreement among the panelists. Forty-seven cancers were reexamined by the same panelists, with no preliminary announcement, 7 months after the first examination to study the intra-pathologist agreement. The rate of the intra-pathologist agreement ranged from 76.6% to 93.3%. Dx of large cell carcinoma was the most intra-changeable. It was concluded that the histologic Dx of large cell carcinoma was the most inter- and intra-changeable, and the most frequent dissenting Dx from it was poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Oncology, School of Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Haratake
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Horie
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tokudome
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Era
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fujii
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kawachi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Miyamoto
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Suko
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tokunaga
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tsuji
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D018288:Carcinoma, Small Cell / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*