THE INFLUENCE OF OBSERVER CALIBRATION IN TEMPOROMANDIBULAR-JOINT MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING DIAGNOSIS

Objective. This study was undertaken to investigate the potential of r educing observer variation through a calibration program. Study design . The study was based on three sets of randomly selected temporomandib ular joint magnetic resonance images. Each set consisted of bilateral images from 20 consecutive patients with temporomandibular disorders. As a baseline, three well-experienced noncalibrated investigators inte rpreted the images individually for disk position and disk configurati on. After the initial interpretation, interobserver agreement was calc ulated as a kappa index and presented to the examiners. On the same oc casion, the investigators analyzed agreement between them on the crite ria to be used. Results. Overall data in this study showed an increase in the frequency of interobserver agreement with regard to disk posit ion after the calibration trials were instituted. With regard to disk configuration, substantial interindividual variations were observed ev en after the observers reached consensus as to the criteria to be used . Conclusions. These data suggest that after calibration trials, it is possible for three examiners to obtain reliable and reproducible resu lts in reporting temporomandibular joint disk position on magnetic res onance images.