INTEROBSERVER VARIATION IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF BRONCHIECTASIS ON HIGH-RESOLUTION COMPUTED-TOMOGRAPHY

The purpose of our study was to determine interobserver variation in t he analysis of high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) in the lungs of patients with clinically suspected bronchiectasis. HRCT scans of 8 8 patients were analysed independently by oa three radiologists with v ariable experience in thoracic radiology using a subjective scoring sy stem To record bronchi as normal, mildly abnormal or severely ab norma l. The presence, severity and distribution of bronchial dilatation and branchial wall thickening were recorded. Kappa values were calculated for assessment of interobserver agreement. Agreement between the thre e readers was good for the detection of bronchiectasis (kappa 0.78) an d assessment of its severity (0.68), detection of bronchial wall thick ening (0.64) and moderately good for the assessment of its severity (0 .58) on a per-patient basis. When individual lobes were analysed, agre ement was moderately good for the detection of abnormal bronchi (0.59) . Agreement on the extent of abnormal bronchi using five categories wa s only fair (0.39), but was good when differences of was one category were ignored (0.63). Interobserver variation with HRCT in suspected br onchiectasis appears satisfactory for comparative studies.