title: Radiologist agreement on the quantification of bronchiectasis by high-resolution computed tomography.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate radiologist agreement on the quantification of bronchiectasis by high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT).
  
  
  METHODS
  The HRCT scans of 43 patients with bronchiectasis were analyzed by two radiologists, who used a scoring system to grade the findings. Kappa (κ) values and overall agreement were calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For the measurement and appearance of bronchiectasis, the interobserver agreement was moderate (κ = 0.45 and κ = 0.43, respectively), as was the intraobserver agreement (κ = 0.54 and κ = 0.47, respectively). Agreement on the presence of mucous plugging was fair, for central distribution (overall interobserver agreement of 68.3% and κ = 0.39 for intraobserver agreement) and for peripheral distribution (κ = 0.34 and κ = 0.35 for interobserver and intraobserver agreement, respectively). The agreement was also fair for peribronchial thickening (κ = 0.21 and κ = 0.30 for interobserver and intraobserver agreement, respectively). There was fair interobserver and intraobserver agreement on the detection of opacities (κ = 0.39 and 71.9%, respectively), ground-glass attenuation (64.3% and κ = 0.24, respectively), and cysts/bullae (κ = 0.47 and κ = 0.44, respectively). Qualitative analysis of the HRCT findings of bronchiectasis and the resulting individual patient scores showed that there was an excellent correlation between the observers (intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.85 and 0.81 for interobserver and intraobserver agreement, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the interpretation of HRCT findings of bronchiectasis, radiologist agreement appears to be fair. In our final analysis of the findings using the proposed score, we observed excellent interobserver and intraobserver agreement.
authors.affiliation: MD, MSc, Radiologist at the Clínica da Imagem do Tocantins, Araguaína, TO, Brazil.
authors.forename: Milene Carneiro Barbosa
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: de Brito
authors.affiliation: MD, Radiologist for the Fundação Instituto de Pesquisa e Estudos de Diagnóstico por Imagem (FIDI), São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Maurício Kenji
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Ota
authors.affiliation: PhD, Professor of Medicine at the Universidade de Fortaleza (Unifor), Fortaleza, CE, Brazil.
authors.forename: Fernando Sergio Studart
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Leitão Filho
authors.affiliation: PhD, Coordinator of the Thoracic Imaging Team of the Grupo Fleury, São Paulo, SP, Professor and Advisor for the Graduate Course in Clinical Radiology at the Escola Paulista de Medicina da Universidade Federal de São Paulo (EPM-Unifesp), São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Gustavo de Souza Portes
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Meirelles
keywords: Bronchiectasis; Lung; Observer variation; Tomography, X-ray computed