The way in which radiologists interpret screening mammographies varies significantly depending on the technologists performing the examinations, according to research recently published in Academic Radiology.
For the study, the researchers from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, used information from the Carolina Mammography register--including data from 372 radiologists and 356 mammographic technologists who performed more than 1 million screening mammograms combined in the period between 1994 and 2009.
The researchers measured recall rates, specificity, sensitivity, positive predictive value and cancer detection rates, finding that technologists had a statistically significant effect on radiologists' results on all of those fronts both for screen film mammography and full-field digital mammography. Article