ABSTRACT
Positron emission tomography (PET) has made it possible to image and measure regional cortical metabolism in humans under different stimulation and diagnostic conditions. This chapter reviews a method for assessing inter-rater reliability and demonstrates its use in a PET data set where regional cortical metabolism was measured using an interactive region of interest program. Among the many important aspects of reliability, a vital consideration is the consistency between raters, or the inter-rater reliability in operations occurring during the measurement process. Disagreements between raters may occur in judging the location of cortical regions, due to the limited resolution of PET scans and individual variation in cortical anatomy. The magnitude of differences between raters should be assessed to determine its impact on conclusions of PET studies and to help guide the development of methodology used to estimate regional cortical metabolic rates in PET.
