Interobserver agreement for Polyomavirus nephropathy grading in renal allografts using the working proposal from the 10th Banff Conference on Allograft Pathology

SummaryA classification schema for grading Polyomavirus nephropathy was proposed at the 2009 Banff allograft meeting. The schema included 3 stages of Polyomavirus nephropathy: early (stage A), florid (stage B), and late sclerosing (stage C). Grading categories for histologic viral load levels were also proposed. To examine the applicability and the interobserver agreement of the proposed Polyomavirus nephropathy grading schema, we evaluated 24 renal allograft biopsies with confirmed Polyomavirus nephropathy by histology and SV40. Four renal pathologists independently scored the Polyomavirus nephropathy stage (A, B, or C), without knowledge of the clinical history. Viral load was scored as a percent of tubules exhibiting viral replication, using either a 3-tier viral load score (1: ≤1%; 2: >1%-10%; 3: >10%) or a 4-tier score (1: ≤1%; 2: >1%-≤5%; 3: >5%-15%; 4: >15%). The κ score for the Polyomavirus nephropathy stage was 0.47 (95% confidence interval, 0.35-0.60; P < .001). There was a substantial agreement using both the 3-tier and the 4-tier scoring for the viral load (Kendall concordance coefficients, 0.72 and 0.76, respectively; P < .001 for both). A better complete agreement was found using the 3-tier viral load score. In this first attempt to evaluate the interobserver reproducibility of the proposed Polyomavirus nephropathy classifying schema, we demonstrated moderate κ agreement in assessing the Polyomavirus nephropathy stage and a substantial agreement in scoring the viral load level. The proposed grading schema can be applied in routine allograft biopsy practice for grading the Polyomavirus nephropathy stage and the viral load level.