Coronary artery disease reporting and data system (CAD-RADS™): Inter-observer agreement for assessment categories and modifiers

Background: The Coronary Artery Disease Reporting and Data System (CAD-RADS) provides a lexicon and standardized reporting system for coronary CT angiography. Objectives: To evaluate inter-observer agreement of the CAD-RADS among an panel of early career and expert readers. Methods: Four early career and four expert cardiac imaging readers prospectively and independently evaluated 50 coronary CT angiography cases using the CAD-RADS lexicon. All readers assessed image quality using a five-point Likert scale, with mean Likert score >= 4 designating high image quality, and <4 designating moderate/ low image quality. All readers were blinded to medical history and invasive coronary angiography findings. Inter-observer agreement for CAD-RADS assessment categories and modifiers were assessed using intra-class correlation (ICC) and Fleiss' Kappa (kappa). The impact of reader experience and image quality on inter-observer agreement was also examined. Results: Inter-observer agreement for CAD-RADS assessment categories was excellent (ICC 0.958, 95% CI 0.938-0.974, p < 0.0001). Agreement among expert readers (ICC 0.925, 95% CI 0.884-0.954) was marginally stronger than for early career readers (ICC 0.904, 95% CI 0.852-0.941), both p < 0.0001. High image quality was associated with stronger agreement than moderate image quality (ICC 0.944, 95% CI 0.886-0.974 vs. ICC 0.887, 95% CI 0.775-0.95, both p < 0.0001). While excellent inter-observer agreement was observed for modifiers S (stent) and G (bypass graft) (both kappa = 1.0), only fair agreement (kappa = 0.40) was observed for modifier V (high risk plaque). Conclusion: Inter-observer reproducibility of CAD-RADS assessment categories and modifiers is excellent, except for high-risk plaque (modifier V) which demonstrates fair agreement. These results suggest CAD-RADS is feasible for clinical implementation.