Investigating the level of agreement in the measurement of coronary artery calcification among radiology technicians and radiology specialists

Maryam Moradi, Awat Feizi, Ebrahim Rafiei, Fateme Sadat Mostafavi

Abstract


Background: To investigate the level of agreement in the measurement of coronary artery calcification among radiology technicians and radiology specialists.

Materials and Methods: This cross?sectional study was conducted on 544 cases in the Radiology Department of Al?Zahra Hospital in Isfahan in 2021. The archives of heart  computed tomography scans were reviewed, and coronary artery calcium scores (CACS) reported by radiology technicians and radiologists were marked and compared.

Results: The level of agreement of the score measured by two evaluators in the whole sample is equal to intracluster correlation coefficient = 0.996 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.995–0.997) (P < 0.001) and the level of agreement based on calcification categories measured by weighted kappa was 0.968 (95% CI: 0.953–0.982)(P < 0.001), both of which indicate an excellent and significant intensity of agreement.

Conclusion: The results of our study demonstrate a high level of agreement regarding CACS between technicians and radiologists.


Keywords


Coronary artery calcification, coronary artery calcium scores, radiologist, technician

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