Elmore, Joann G; Cook, Andrea J; Bogart, Andy; Carney, Patricia A; Geller, Berta M; Taplin, Stephen H; Buist, Diana SM; Onega, Tracy; Lee, Christoph I; Miglioretti, Diana L

doi:10.1016/j.clinimag.2016.06.014

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Radiologists' interpretive skills in screening vs. diagnostic mammography: are they related?

2016

Published Web Location

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinimag.2016.06.014

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to determine whether radiologists who perform well in screening also perform well in interpreting diagnostic mammography.

Materials and methods

We evaluated the accuracy of 468 radiologists interpreting 2,234,947 screening and 196,164 diagnostic mammograms. Adjusting for site, radiologist, and patient characteristics, we identified radiologists with performance in the highest tertile and compared to those with lower performance.

Results

A moderate correlation was noted for radiologists' accuracy when interpreting screening versus their accuracy on diagnostic examinations: sensitivity (r_spearman=0.51, 95% CI: 0.22, 0.80; P=.0006) and specificity (r_spearman=0.40, 95% CI: 0.30, 0.49; P<.0001).

Conclusion

Different educational approaches to screening and diagnostic imaging should be considered.

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