Do mammographic technologists affect radiologists' diagnostic mammography interpretative performance?

AJR. American Journal of Roentgenology
Louise M HendersonBonnie C Yankaskas

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the technologist has an effect on the radiologists' interpretative performance of diagnostic mammography. Using data from a community-based mammography registry from 1994 to 2009, we identified 162,755 diagnostic mammograms interpreted by 286 radiologists and performed by 303 mammographic technologists. We calculated sensitivity, false-positive rate, and positive predictive value (PPV) of the recommendation for biopsy from mammography for examinations performed (i.e., images acquired) by each mammographic technologist, separately for conventional (film-screen) and digital modalities. We assessed the variability of these performance measures among mammographic technologists, using mixed effects logistic regression and taking into account the clustering of examinations within women, radiologists, and radiology practices. Among the 291 technologists performing conventional examinations, mean sensitivity of the examinations performed was 83.0% (95% CI, 80.8-85.2%), mean false-positive rate was 8.5% (95% CI, 8.0-9.0%), and mean PPV of the recommendation for biopsy from mammography was 27.1% (95% CI, 24.8-29.4%). For the 45 technologists performing digital examinations, mean sensitiv...Continue Reading

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Citations

Nov 29, 2015·Journal of the American College of Radiology : JACR·Louise M HendersonBonnie C Yankaskas

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