Rater agreement at lung scintigraphy after consensus training.
OBJECTIVE
Using the PIOPED criteria in the interpretation of lung scintigraphy, perfect agreement between experienced raters with training in consensus interpretation has been demonstrated. In a previous paper we found a kappa value of 0.54 (0.45-0.63) between experienced raters with no experience of interpretation in consensus; this is significantly lower than the perfect agreement described between consensus-trained raters. The purpose of this study was to reinvestigate the same study population with the same raters, but this time after they had undergone consensus training.


METHODS
Lung scintigrams of 192 patients were reviewed and categorized according to the PIOPED criteria by 2 raters after consensus training. The 2 raters reviewed a training material of 59 cases, which was not part of the study population, in order to reach a full consensus interpretation.


RESULTS
After consensus training the kappa value was 0.57 (0.48-0.66). Three cases had a discrepancy of 2 categories (1.6%), and the remaining discrepancies were of one category.


CONCLUSIONS
Consensus training did not significantly improve the agreement rate between experienced raters from different hospitals. A substantial improvement in agreement rates between hospitals may make heavy demands on resources.
Christiansen
F
F
Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Orebro Medical Center Hospital, Sweden.
Andersson
T
T
Rydman
H
H
Måre
K
K
D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D015588:Observer Variation; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology