Galloway Malcolm, Taiyeb Taj
Department of Cellular Pathology, Royal Free Hospital, London NW3 2QG, UK.
Patholog Res Int. 2011;2011:656079. doi: 10.4061/2011/656079. Epub 2011 Aug 14.
Histopathological reports frequently contain phrases describing the degree of uncertainty of the diagnosis. We examined the interpretations of such terms by cellular pathologists, other doctors, and medical students. 203 respondents estimated the degree of certainty they would associate with the following phrases in a cellular pathology report: the features are indicative of; raise the possibility of; are compatible with; are probably those of; are diagnostic of; are in keeping with; and are suggestive of. For all phrases assessed other than "diagnostic of", all groups showed a wide spread in the interpreted probability. For example, the probability associated with the term "in keeping with" by individual consultant pathologists ranged from 25 to 100%. This study demonstrates that pathologists vary widely in how they interpret the meaning of phrases describing probability that are commonly used in pathology reports. We suggest that this potential risk is highlighted during pathology training.
组织病理学报告经常包含描述诊断不确定程度的短语。我们研究了细胞病理学家、其他医生和医学生对这些术语的解读。203名受访者估计了他们会将细胞病理学报告中的以下短语与何种确定程度联系起来：这些特征提示；增加了……的可能性；与……相符；很可能是……；可诊断为；与……一致；提示。除了“可诊断为”之外，对于所有评估的短语，所有组在解释的概率上都有很大差异。例如，个别顾问病理学家与“与……一致”这个术语相关联的概率范围从25%到100%。这项研究表明，病理学家在解读病理报告中常用的描述概率的短语含义时差异很大。我们建议在病理学培训期间突出这种潜在风险。
