title: Inter-observer agreement in laryngeal pre-neoplastic lesions.
abstract: In this series, laryngeal preneoplastic lesions were evaluated by the classifications of the World Health Organization (WHOC), Ljubljana (LC) and squamous intraepithelial neoplasia (SINC) by multiple observers. The inter-observer agreement (IA) by WHOC for laryngeal lesions had been previously evaluated, but to the best of our knowledge, there are no data for LC and SINC. H&E stained slides from 42 laryngeal biopsies were evaluated by fourteen participants according to WHOC and LC, and SINC was additionally applied by 6. The results were analyzed statistically. The diagnoses which were favored by most participants for each case, according to WHOC, were as follows: squamous cell hyperplasia (n = 5; 12%), mild dysplasia (n = 11; 26.2%), moderate dysplasia (n = 12; 28.6%), severe dysplasia (n = 7; 16.7%), carcinoma in situ (n = 5; 12%), and invasive squamous cell carcinoma (n = 2; 4.8%). There was a significant difference between the participants for all three classifications; some participants gave lower or higher scores than the others. The mean correlation coefficients (MCC) of the participants were higher for WHOC compared to LC (0.55 ± 0.15 and 0.48 ± 0.14, respectively). The mean linear-weighted kappa (wKappa) values of participants were not significantly different (0.42 ± 0.10, 0.41 ± 0.12 and 0.37 ± 0.07 for WHOC, LC and SINC, respectively). The kappa values in this series are in agreement with those in previous literature for WHOC, and the similar results obtained for LC and SINC are novel findings. Although the MCC of WHOC was higher, as the wkappa was not significantly different, the findings in this series are not in favor of any of the classifications for better IA for pre-neoplastic laryngeal lesions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Dokuz Eylul University Faculty of Medicine, 35340 Inciralti, Izmir, Turkey. sulen.sarioglu@deu.edu.tr
authors.forename: Sulen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sarioglu
authors.forename: Fulya
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cakalagaoglu
authors.forename: Sahande
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Elagoz
authors.forename: Unsal
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Unsal
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Ersoy
authors.forename: Demet
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Etit
authors.forename: Sema
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hucumenoglu
authors.forename: Ilgin
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Karaman
authors.forename: Fulya
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Koybasioglu
authors.forename: Sezer
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kulacoglu
authors.forename: Irem Onur
authors.initials: IO
authors.lastname: Paker
authors.forename: Gulay
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ozbilim
authors.forename: Yasemin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ozluk
authors.forename: Ugur
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Pabuccuoglu
authors.forename: Arzu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ruacan
authors.forename: Selda
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Seckin
authors.forename: Aysun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Uguz
authors.forename: Ozlem
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Saraydaroglu
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Veral
authors.forename: Dilek
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yilmazbayhan
authors.forename: Hulya
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ellidokuz
mesh_terms: D001706:Biopsy / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002278:Carcinoma in Situ / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007822:Laryngeal Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology*; D015588:Observer Variation; D010338:Pathology, Clinical / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology*; D014944:World Health Organization