title: Interobserver agreement for sonograms of breast lesions obtained by an automated breast volume scanner.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the interobserver agreement of radiologists in the description and final assessment of breast sonograms obtained using an automated breast volume scanner (ABVS) using a unique descriptor of three-dimensional ultrasound (3D US) and the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) US lexicon.
  
  
  METHODS
  From October to December 2010, 208 patients were subjected to an ABVS examination in the supine position, and data were automatically sent to the ABVS workstation. Two radiologists independently evaluated 234 breast masses (148 benign and 86 malignant masses) using a unique descriptor from the 3D US and the BI-RADS US lexicon. The reviewers were blinded to the patient's mammographic images, medical history, and pathologic findings. The interobserver agreement was measured using kappa statistics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Substantial agreement was obtained for lesion shape, orientation, margin, echo pattern, posterior acoustic features, calcification and final assessment (κ=0.79, 0.74, 0.76, 0.69, 0.68, 0.71 and 0.70, respectively). Fair agreement was obtained for retraction phenomenon and lesion boundary (κ=0.54 and 0.42, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The interobserver agreement for breast sonograms obtained by ABVS is good, especially for lesion shape and margin; however, the interobserver agreement for the retraction phenomenon, which is a unique descriptor of coronal-plane 3D US, needs to be improved.
authors: Department of Diagnostic Ultrasound, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, No. 1 Shuaifuyuan, Dongcheng District, Beijing 100730, China. zhang.jing1029@163.com
authors: Jing
authors: J
authors: Zhang
authors: Xing-Jian
authors: XJ
authors: Lai
authors: Qing-Li
authors: QL
authors: Zhu
authors: Hong-Yan
authors: HY
authors: Wang
authors: Yu-Xin
authors: YX
authors: Jiang
authors: He
authors: H
authors: Liu
authors: Qing
authors: Q
authors: Dai
authors: Shan-Shan
authors: SS
authors: You
authors: Meng-Su
authors: MS
authors: Xiao
authors: Qiang
authors: Q
authors: Sun
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016217:Ultrasonography, Mammary / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult