The reliability of computer analysis of ultrasonographic prostate images: the influence of inconsistent histopathology.

This article describes a method to investigate the influence of inconsistent histopathology during the development of tissue discrimination algorithms. Review of the pathology is performed on the biopsies used as training set of a computer system for cancer detection in ultrasonographic prostate images. The influence of the discrepancies found between independent pathologists on the discriminating power of the system is investigated. A high diagnostic consistency in histopathology concerning only the categories malignant and nonmalignant is found. Therefore, review of the pathology does not significantly influence the results of tissue discrimination algorithms for cancer detection. However a high interobserver variability is obtained in the differentiation between more histology classes.