Intervention to Reduce Interobserver Variability in Computed Tomographic Measurement of Cancer Lesions Among Experienced Radiologists
| Autor: | MinJae Woo, Ronald W. Gimbel, Steven C. Lowe, A. Michael Devane |
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| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Observer Variation
medicine.medical_specialty Normal anatomy business.industry Liver Neoplasms Psychological intervention Reproducibility of Results Cancer Retrospective cohort study medicine.disease Computed tomographic Intervention (counseling) Radiologists medicine Research studies Humans Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging Radiology Tomography X-Ray Computed business Retrospective Studies Ct measurements |
| Zdroj: | Current Problems in Diagnostic Radiology. 50:321-327 |
| ISSN: | 0363-0188 |
| Popis: | Purpose While a growing number of research studies have reported the inter-observer variability in computed tomographic (CT) measurements, there are very few interventional studies performed. We aimed to assess whether a peer benchmarking intervention tool may have an influence on reducing inter-observer variability in CT measurements and identify possible barriers to the intervention. Materials and Methods In this retrospective study, 13 board-certified radiologists repeatedly reviewed 10 CT image sets of lung lesions and hepatic metastases during three non-contiguous time periods (T1, T2, T3). Each pre-selected case contained normal anatomy cephalad and caudal to the lesion of interest. Lesion size measurement under RECISTS 1.1 guidelines, choice of CT slice, and time spent on measurement were captured. Prior to their final measurements, the participants were exposed to the intervention designed to reduce the number of measurements deviating from the median. Chi-square test was performed to identify radiologist-dependent factors associated with the variability. Results The percent of deviating measurements during T1 and T2 were 20.0% and 23.1%, respectively. There was no statistically significant change in the number of deviating measurements upon the presentation of the intervention despite the decrease in percent from 23.1% to 17.7%. The identified barriers to the intervention include clinical disagreements among radiologists. Specifically, the inter-observer variability was associated with the controversy over the choice of CT image slice (p=0.045) and selection of start-point, axis, and end-point (p=0.011). Conclusion Clinical disagreements rather than random errors were barriers to reducing interobserver variability in CT measurement among experienced radiologists. Future interventions could aim to resolve the disagreement in an interactive approach. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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