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Erschienen in:
01.10.2011 | Breast
Effect of radiologist experience on the risk of false-positive results in breast cancer screening programs
Erschienen in: European Radiology | Ausgabe 10/2011
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Objectives
To evaluate the effect of radiologist experience on the risk of false-positive results in population-based breast cancer screening programmes.
Methods
We evaluated 1,440,384 single-read screening mammograms, corresponding to 471,112 women aged 45–69 years participating in four Spanish programmes between 1990 and 2006. The mammograms were interpreted by 72 radiologists.
Results
The overall percentage of false-positive results was 5.85% and that for false-positives resulting in an invasive procedure was 0.38%. Both the risk of false-positives overall and of false-positives leading to an invasive procedure significantly decreased (p < 0.001) with greater reading volume in the previous year: OR 0.77 and OR 0.78, respectively, for a reading volume 500–1,999 mammograms and OR 0.59 and OR 0.60 for a reading volume of >14,999 mammograms with respect to the reference category (<500). The risk of both categories of false-positives was also significantly reduced (p < 0.001) as radiologists’ years of experience increased: OR 0.96 and OR 0.84, respectively, for 1 year’s experience and OR 0.72 and OR 0.73, respectively, for more than 4 years’ experience with regard to the category of <1 year’s experience.
Conclusion
Radiologist experience is a determining factor in the risk of a false-positive result in breast cancer screening.