Reproducibility in morphometric assessment of positive staining for CEA in ovarian tumours
Abstract
Positive staining for carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in 30 ovarian tumours was assessed subjectively and morphometrically. The kappa coefficient (κ) and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) were used to assess reproducibility. On subjective grading by 5 observers κ was 0.51 (90% confidence limits: 0.39-0.63) and by one observer (5 estimates) 0.96 (0.92-1). On morphometry the ICC of individual fields (5-person test) was 0.49-0.81 (0.26-0.93) and of standardized fields 0.64-0.78 (0.28-0.96), respectively. The ICC in 12 samples (5-person test, interobserver reproducibility) was 0.78-0.93 (0.31-0.99). In an intraobserver test (5 measurements) ICC was 0.87-0.95 (0.45-0.98). The results suggest that morphometric assessment is more reproducible than subjective assessment and that the human variations in counting account for most of the variation in morphometric reproducibility.