Improvement in mammography interpretation skills in a community radiology practice after dedicated teaching courses: 2-year medical audit of 38,633 cases.

Abstract

The authors conducted a complete audit of results of 38,633 mammographic examinations performed by 12 general radiologists during a 2-year period with a computerized reporting system. During this period, 11 group members attended 17 dedicated mammography courses. Audit results were analyzed for each radiologist and the entire group. In the 2nd year, the number of breast cancers diagnosed increased 50% (from 121 to 181), with a 6.5% increase in patient volume. Sensitivity increased from 80% to 87%, and there was no change in the positive predictive value of 32%. Median tumor size and node positivity decreased. Most major variables of population and technical factors were unchanged. Diagnostic approach was altered during the 2nd year, as shown by a 50% increase in the use of spot compression, magnification views, and sonography. Analysis of each radiologist's performance before and after attending mammography courses showed similar changes. These data suggest that dedicated mammography courses can help improve radiologists' performance and alter their interpretive approach.

Screening Mammography in Finland - 1.5 Million Examinations with 97 percent Specificity

“…Competence in mammography screening is beyond the scope of any radiology residency program and currently taught in a few fellowship programs, nor is mammography screening currently a popular subject for continuing medical education courses. Since there is a wide range in the competence of radiologists performing mammography screening (21), continued training and self-evaluation are likely to lead to improved results in terms of both specificity and sensitivity (22). Our data confirm the improvement in specificity that has taken place during the first 3-5 years of the program, a type of 'learning curve'.…”

Performance of clinical mammography: A nationwide study from Denmark

“…However, for screening mammography, radiologists' experience and annual volume have been studied. In general, radiologist training has been associated with increased performance, [12][13][14][15][16][17] but the literature is conflicting on the relationship between annual volume per radiologist and performance. Our study support findings from five studies showing volume to be of importance.…”

“…Radiologist training in general has been associated with increased performance. [12][13][14][15][16][17] Data on the relationship between volume read per radiologist and performance are, however, conflicting, 13,[18][19][20][21][22] whereas associations have been found between some other indicators of radiologists' experience and performance. [23][24][25] However, most studies focused on mammography screening, and no large community based study has evaluated the association between organisational factors and performance of diagnostic mammography.…”

A Content-Boosted Collaborative Filtering Algorithm for Personalized Training in Interpretation of Radiological Imaging

“…A number of research results suggest that adequate training is an efficient way to improve the diagnostic performances of radiologists [5,6]. Now, with the widespread use of the internet in education, computer-aided radiology training approaches are becoming an effective method.…”

“…Now, with the widespread use of the internet in education, computer-aided radiology training approaches are becoming an effective method. The computeraided radiology training approaches overcome the time, location, and personnel limitations of traditional radiology training [5][6][7]. Therefore, computer-aided training approaches have become important complements of traditional radiology training.…”