Abakay, Abdurrahman Dicle Üniversitesi - Tıp Fakültesi - Göğüs Hastalıkları Anabilim Dalı, Turkey , Toksöz, Mehmet Özel Family Tıp Merkezi - Radyoloji Bölümü, Turkey , Tanrıkulu, Abdullah Çetin Dicle Üniversitesi - Tıp Fakültesi - Göğüs Hastalıkları Anabilim Dalı, Turkey , Abakay, Özlem Göğüs Hastalıkları Hastanesi, Turkey , Ekinci, Şenay 1 Nolu Verem Savaşı Dispanseri, Turkey

The discrepancies between assessments of physicians in microfilm examination for tuberculosis screening

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Objectives: Microfilm (MF) are used in community based screening for tuberculosis (TB) in Turkey. This study aimed differences in evaluation between various physicians.Materials and Methods: In the Mardin Prison, 253 microfilms (MFs) were obtained during periodic TB screening in January 2006. A chest disease specialist doctor, a radiology specialist doctor and a general practitioner doctor assessed the MFs separately. The results were classified as i) Normal, ii) Active TB disease findings, iii) and Sequel TB disease findings.Results: A total of 13 MFs were not taken into consideration because of technically unsatisfactory radiographs. The end results were as follows; three physicians had agreed about diagnosis in 159 MFs (66.2%). In 81 MFs (33.8%) at least one physician had a different opinion about microfilm. The general practitioner reported 19 MFs (8%) as active TB disease findings and the radiology specialist doctor reported 22 MFs (9%) as active TB disease. However, the chest diseases specialist doctor reported 26 MFs (11%) as having active TB disease findings. No significant difference was found in active TB diagnosis between three physicians (p 0.05). The frequency of sequel TB diagnosis was higher in Chest disease specialist compared with other physicians (p 0.05).Conclusion: Although MF is a fast screening method, considerable disagreement was found in evaluating abnormal findings among reporting physicians. As TB is a disease with various radiologic appearances, usage of microbiological diagnostic modalities should be added to subjective radiographic methods.

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Tuberculosis , microfilm , screening , physicians , assessment differences

Dicle Medical Journal

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