Introduction: Utility of computarized tomography as routine test in surgicaltreatment of distal radius fracture has not been well established yet.Materials and methods: An agreement study was conducted to evaluate the intraand interobserver agreement betwenn plain radiograph and tomography ofFernández V distal radius fractures. Two visits were made, each one with an intervalof two weeks apart to 15 orthopaedic surgeons who were asked to evaluate 22 plainradiographs an its tomographic images corresponding to patients with Fernández Vdistal radius fractures, they determined for each case the best treatment option.Kappa coefficient was used to evaluate intra and interobserver agreement for thetreatment plan proposed and the results were analized according to the interpretationof the coefficient by Landis and Koch.Results: Agreement between the two tests was moderate kappa 0,47 – 0,51 in thetwo times of evaluation respectively, change of decision treatment between 24,9% y26,7% was observed (p‹0,001). The intraobserver agreement for radiography andtomography evaluated individually was good (72,1% y 64,2% respectively) it wasevident the change of decision of treatment up to 35,8% of the evaluations(p‹0,001); the observed agreement was very good for the cases that had indication ofopen treatment. No influence of age in the results was identified.Conclusion: There is good agreement between plain radiography and tomography inFernandez V distal radius fracture when the decisión of treatment is made, beinghigh in the cases that had indication of open treatment.
