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- Volume 2 (1983)
- Number 2 - Proceedings of the second symposium on ...
- Observer variation and reproducibility of grading: analysis of the postcapillary venules in human axillary lymph nodes using subjective and morphometric methods
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Observer variation and reproducibility of grading: analysis of the postcapillary venules in human axillary lymph nodes using subjective and morphometric methods
Abstract
Five pathologists analysed 100 postcapillary venules (PCVs) in 20 axillary lymph nodes by subjective and morphometric means. The coefficient of variation (CV) of the subjective mean grade estimates and indexes varied from 0% to 39% and of the morphometric mean height estimates and indexes from 2% to 44%. The interobserver reproducibility was estimated by the kappa statistic and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). On subjective grading kappa was 0.50 (0.43-0.56) and on morphometry ICC was 0.74 (0.70-0.78). These figures correspond to moderate degree of reproducibility, and show that the subjective and morphometric methods are comparable in their performance in this system. Experience in diagnostic histopathology did not appear to have any influence on reproducibility as shown by an exclusion experiment. This suggests that experience amplifies other than basic perceptive or observation skills of the pathologist.