Cancer detection and mammogram volume of radiologists in a population-based screening programme

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between the number of screening mammograms read by radiologists and the screening breast cancer detection rate. Cancer detection rates for incident screens (all women aged 40 years) were compared by increasing categories of reader volume using Poisson regression. Data from New South Wales (NSW) for a 2 year period (2000-2001) were obtained from the BreastScreen NSW programme. Cancer detection rates increased with the number of mammograms read in the programme, reaching a plateau of approximately 40 per 10,000 after 1375 mammograms per year. No significant differences in cancer detection were evident above 875 mammograms (compared to below 875 mammograms) per year (RR=0.79, 95% CI 0.63-0.99).