RATER AGREEMENT AT LUNG SCINTIGRAPHY AFTER CONSENSUS TRAINING

Purpose: Using the PIOPED criteria in the interpretation of lung scint igraphy, perfect agreement between experienced raters with training in consensus interpretation has been demonstrated. In a previous paper w e found a kappa value of 0.54 (0.45-0.63) between experienced raters w ith no experience of interpretation in consensus; this is significantl y lower than the perfect agree described between consensus-trained rat ers. The purpose of this study was to reinvestigate the same study pop ulation with the same rates, but this time after they had undergone co nsensus training. Material and Methods: Lung scintigrams of 192 patien ts were reviewed and categorized according to the PIOPED criteria by 2 raters after consensus training. The 2 raters reviewed a training mat erial of 59 cases, which was not part of the study population, in orde r to reach a full consensus interpretation. Results: After consensus t raining the kappa value was 0.57 (0.48-0.66). Three cases had a discre pancy of 2 categories (1.6%), and the remaining discrepancies were of one category. Conclusion: Consensus training did not significantly imp rove the agreement rate between experienced raters from different hosp itals. A substantial improvement in agreement rates between hospitals may make heavy demands on resources.