What factors influence cellular pathologists’ confidence in case reporting?
- Open Access
- 17.08.2024
- ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Abstract
Introduction
Methods
Study design
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Pathologist overall reporting experience (number of years a pathologist had been practising as a consultant: 3–10 years, 10.5–20 years and 21–35 years)
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Pathologist DP reporting experience (number of years they had reported on DP in routine practice: none, ≤ 1.5 years or 1.5–5 years)
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Modality on which diagnosis was made (LM/DP)
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Case specialty (breast/GI/skin/renal)
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Case difficulty level (routine/moderately difficult to report/difficult to report), based on the type of pathology present and specimen type (7)
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Whether a report’s diagnosis agreed with the ground truth (GT) diagnosis (defined in consensus meetings by reporting pathologists) (complete agreement (CA)/CID/CUD)
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Whether the LM report diagnosis agreed with the DP report diagnosis (CA/CID/CUD)
Statistical analysis
Results
Predictor variables
Diagnostic confidence
Parameter | Rate ratio† (95% confidence interval), p-value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
All data | LM data only | DP data only | DP data only | |
Excluding DP reporting experience in model | Including DP reporting experience in model | |||
Intercept* | 0.045 (0.028–0.073), < 0.001 | 0.052 (0.034–0.081), < 0.001 | 0.062 (0.039–0.100), < 0.001 | 0.055 (0.029–0.105), < 0.001 |
Modality (reference, LM) DP | 1.09 (1.01–1.18), 0.035 | NA | NA | NA |
Difficulty level (reference, routine) Moderate Difficult | < 0.001‡ 2.01 (1.53–2.64), < 0.001 4.15 (3.31–5.21), < 0.001 | < 0.001‡ 2.07 (1.56–2.76), < 0.001 3.66 (2.89–4.63), < 0.001 | < 0.001‡ 1.41 (1.05–1.90), 0.023 3.51 (2.80–4.41), < 0.001 | < 0.001‡ 1.41 (1.05–1.90), 0.023 3.52 (2.80–4.41), < 0.001 |
Diagnosis = GT (reference, CA) Clinically important difference Clinically unimportant difference | < 0.001‡ 1.38 (1.13–1.68), 0.002 2.23 (1.90–2.62), < 0.001 | < 0.001‡ 1.65 (1.24–2.19), 0.001 2.39 (1.88–3.02), < 0.001 | < 0.001‡ 1.25 (0.94–1.66), 0.125 2.63 (2.08–3.33), < 0.001 | < 0.001‡ 1.25 (0.94–1.66), 0.123 2.63 (2.08–3.33), < 0.001 |
LM diagnosis = DP diagnosis (reference, CA) Clinically important difference Clinically unimportant difference | < 0.001‡ 1.18 (0.95–1.47), 0.138 1.89 (1.58–2.27), < 0.001 | < 0.001‡ 1.19 (0.87–1.61), 0.274 2.10 (1.64–2.68), < 0.001 | < 0.001‡ 1.20 (0.89–1.62), 0.239 1.79 (1.40–2.30), < 0.001 | < 0.001‡ 1.20 (0.89–1.62), 0.238 1.79 (1.40–2.30), < 0.001 |
Specialty (reference, breast) GI Skin Renal | 0.001‡ 0.35 (0.21–0.59), < 0.001 0.52 (0.31–0.89), 0.016 0.76 (0.42–1.39), 0.380 | 0.001‡ 0.38 (0.24–0.61), < 0.001 0.71 (0.44–1.14), 0.152 0.83 (0.48–1.43), 0.504 | 0.002‡ 0.38 (0.23–0.64), < 0.001 0.55 (0.33–0.92), 0.023 0.81 (0.45–1.46), 0.480 | 0.008‡ 0.40 (0.24–0.68), 0.001 0.59 (0.34–1.04), 0.068 0.80 (0.43–1.49), 0.485 |
Overall reporting experience (reference, 3–10 years) 10.5–20 years 22–35 years | 0.019‡ 2.05 (1.19–3.53), 0.009 1.12 (0.73–1.73), 0.604 | 0.002‡ 1.99 (1.21–3.25), 0.006 0.94 (0.63–1.40), 0.759 | 0.060‡ 1.90 (1.11–3.28), 0.020 1.21 (0.78–1.88), 0.385 | 0.083‡ 2.04 (1.08–3.85), 0.028 1.21 (0.78–1.87), 0.394 |
DP reporting experience (reference, none) > 0–1.5 years 3–5 years | NA | NA | Not included to have a similar model to compare with the model for LM data | 0.784‡ 1.20 (0.71–2.04), 0.497 1.07 (0.64–1.77), 0.801 |
Lowest confidence cases
Low confidence and case quality
Low confidence and case difficulty
Specialty | Difficulty level | Ground truth diagnosis | Diagnostic confidence | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
LM | DP | |||
Breast | Difficult | B3 without atypia B5a, DCIS low grade B5a, Encysted papillary carcinoma | 2 2 3 | 7 4 6 |
B5b, Invasive lobular carcinoma | 3 | 6 | ||
No metastatic malignancy. Lymphoid neoplasm requiring haematopathology review | 7 | 1 | ||
Moderate | B3 without atypia | 2 | 7 | |
Routine | B1 normal A = B1, B = B2 B2 | 6 1 6 | 2 1 1 | |
B2 | 5 | 3 | ||
B2 Sclerosing adenosis/sclerosed fibroadenoma | 1 | 5 | ||
B2 Fibroadenoma | 1 | 7 | ||
B5a | 3 | 4 | ||
B5b | 3 | 4 | ||
GI | Moderate | pT4aN0R0 | 7 | 3 |
Routine | Mild chronic gastritis, hyperplastic polyp | 7 | 3 | |
Tubular adenoma with low-grade dysplasia | 1 | 7 | ||
Skin | Difficult | Histiocytoma | 1 | 1 |
Erythema Multiforme likely to drug reaction | 4 | 1 | ||
Psoriasiform drug eruption | 7 | 3 | ||
Squamous cell carcinoma | 3 | 7 | ||
Spitz nevus | 3 | 7 | ||
Moderate | Lentigo maligna | 2 | 1 | |
Renal | Difficult | Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis/hypertensive glomerulosclerosis | 4 | 2 |
Thrombotic microangiography (TMA) | 6 | 3 | ||
No evidence of rejection, C4d negative | 3 | 5 | ||
IgA nephropathy | 6 | 1 | ||
Segmental necrotising glomerulonephritis—IgA out of focus on digital therefore unsuitable for diagnosis | 7 | 1 | ||
FSGS, all comments need EM to explore for LCPT (light chain proximal tubulopathy) | 2 | 3 | ||
IgA Nephropathy | 5 | 3 | ||
Lupus nephritis, class V | 5 | 1 | ||
Low confidence and diagnostic discrepancy
Diagnoses with high confidence but clinically important differences
Error type | Breast errors (n = 189) N (%) | GI errors (n = 250) N (%) | Skin errors (n = 89) N (%) | Renal errors (n = 3) N (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Diagnostic error—including differences in tumour subtype | 121 (64.0) | 214 (85.6) | 48 (53.9) | 1 (33.3) |
Error in tumour grading | 13 (6.9) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
Error in tumour staging | 24 (12.7) | 10 (4.0) | 11 (12.4) | 0 (0) |
Error in IHC interpretation | 18 (9.5) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
Erroneous errors | 9 (4.8) | 15 (6.0) | 10 (11.2) | 0 (0) |
Threshold difference between pathologists | 0 (0) | 10 (4.0) | 8 (9.0) | 2 (66.7) |
Error in margin measurement/excision status | 4 (2.1) | 1 (0.4) | 12 (13.5) | 0 (0) |