Interobserver agreement between radiologists and radiology residents and emergency physicians in the detection of PE using CTPA.

OBJECTIVE: To assess interobserver agreement between thoracic radiologists, radiology residents, and emergency physicians in diagnosing pulmonary embolism (PE).

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Emergency physicians, radiology residents, and thoracic radiologists evaluated 123 computed tomography pulmonary angiography images. Interobserver agreement was analysed using kappa statistics.

RESULTS: Very good agreements were observed between thoracic radiologists and radiology residents (0.81 and 0.82). Fair and moderate agreements (0.39 and 0.42) were demonstrated between emergency physicians and thoracic radiologists.

CONCLUSIONS: Important differences in interobserver agreement were found, with emergency physicians tending to overdiagnose PE.