Biomaterial Database

Can different types of retinal emboli be reliably differentiated from one another? An inter- and intraobserver agreement study. 1998

S Sharma, and J L Pater, and M Lam, and A F Cruess

Department of Ophthalmology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ont.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether ophthalmologists can agree on the qualitative assessment of visible retinal emboli. METHODS Inter- and intraobserver agreement study. METHODS The retina and vitreous subspecialty session at the 1996 Canadian Ophthalmological Society meeting. METHODS A total of 42 observers, of whom 30 were retinal specialists. METHODS The observers viewed 17 fundus photographs of 11 patients with embolic acute retinal artery occlusion and classified the visible retinal emboli into one of three groups: cholesterol, calcific or other. RESULTS Overall, there was slight agreement for the 17 observations (mean kappa = 0.063). The kappa statistic for all cases ranged from slight to fair agreement. Slight interobserver agreement for the six unique photographs was observed (mean kappa = 0.073). Slight intraobserver agreement was found for the three photographs that were shown in different orientations (mean kappa = 0.041) and for the two photographs shown with differing magnification (mean kappa = 0.102). CONCLUSIONS Overall both intraobserver and interobserver agreement on the qualitative assessment of retinal emboli was poor. With only slight agreement on the classification of emboli, systemic evaluation of acute retinal artery occlusion should not be based on qualitative assessment of retinal emboli.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D012164	Retinal Diseases	Diseases involving the RETINA.	Disease, Retinal,Diseases, Retinal,Retinal Disease
D002114	Calcinosis	Pathologic deposition of calcium salts in tissues.	Calcification, Pathologic,Calcinosis, Tumoral,Microcalcification,Microcalcinosis,Pathologic Calcification,Calcinoses,Calcinoses, Tumoral,Microcalcifications,Microcalcinoses,Tumoral Calcinoses,Tumoral Calcinosis
D003937	Diagnosis, Differential	Determination of which one of two or more diseases or conditions a patient is suffering from by systematically comparing and contrasting results of diagnostic measures.	Diagnoses, Differential,Differential Diagnoses,Differential Diagnosis
D004617	Embolism	Blocking of a blood vessel by an embolus which can be a blood clot or other undissolved material in the blood stream.	Embolus,Embolisms
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D015588	Observer Variation	The failure by the observer to measure or identify a phenomenon accurately, which results in an error. Sources for this may be due to the observer's missing an abnormality, or to faulty technique resulting in incorrect test measurement, or to misinterpretation of the data. Two varieties are inter-observer variation (the amount observers vary from one another when reporting on the same material) and intra-observer variation (the amount one observer varies between observations when reporting more than once on the same material).	Bias, Observer,Interobserver Variation,Intraobserver Variation,Observer Bias,Inter-Observer Variability,Inter-Observer Variation,Interobserver Variability,Intra-Observer Variability,Intra-Observer Variation,Intraobserver Variability,Inter Observer Variability,Inter Observer Variation,Inter-Observer Variabilities,Inter-Observer Variations,Interobserver Variabilities,Interobserver Variations,Intra Observer Variability,Intra Observer Variation,Intra-Observer Variabilities,Intra-Observer Variations,Intraobserver Variabilities,Intraobserver Variations,Observer Variations,Variabilities, Inter-Observer,Variabilities, Interobserver,Variabilities, Intra-Observer,Variabilities, Intraobserver,Variability, Inter-Observer,Variability, Interobserver,Variability, Intra-Observer,Variability, Intraobserver,Variation, Inter-Observer,Variation, Interobserver,Variation, Intra-Observer,Variation, Intraobserver,Variation, Observer,Variations, Inter-Observer,Variations, Interobserver,Variations, Intra-Observer,Variations, Intraobserver,Variations, Observer
D017700	Embolism, Cholesterol	Blocking of a blood vessel by CHOLESTEROL-rich atheromatous deposits, generally occurring in the flow from a large artery to small arterial branches. It is also called arterial-arterial embolization or atheroembolism which may be spontaneous or iatrogenic. Patients with spontaneous atheroembolism often have painful, cyanotic digits of acute onset.	Atheroembolism,Cholesterol Embolism,Atheroembolisms,Cholesterol Embolisms,Embolisms, Cholesterol