Initial versus subsequent screening mammography: comparison of findings and their prognostic significance.

Effect of Observing Change from Comparison Mammograms on Performance of Screening Mammography in a Large Community-based Population

“…When there was no change, sensitivity was less than 50% and the cancer detection rate was less than one per 1000 mammograms. Clearly, the challenge is to identify fi ndings that may be indicative to lower recall rates and higher overall specifi city (2)(3)(4)6,7 ). We also found that comparison mammograms lead to lower sensitivity.…”

“…Yankaskas et al the cost-effectiveness of obtaining comparison mammograms showed that the process of retrieving previous mammograms to compare with current mammograms has a high cost and yields small benefi ts ( 3,8 ); meanwhile, it does not provide any clinical benefi t to the majority of the patients. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of comparison mammograms on the accuracy, sensitivity, specifi city, positive predictive value (PPV 1 ), and cancer detection rate of screening mammography to determine the role played by identifi cation of change on mammograms.…”

“…They found the abnormal rate (recall rate) was two times higher when no comparison mammograms were available, but they did not control for age. Cancers detected with comparison mammograms available had more favorable characteristics ( 3 ). There are four other studies reported in the literature in which researchers used test sets read by multiple radiologists with varying methods.…”

Stage distribution at first and repeat examinations in breast cancer screening

“…The two reports from the Edinburgh trial do not show unequivocally whether stage distribution is more favourable at first than at repeat screenings. 7 8 Also, screening projects in Italy, 16 Germany, 11 Finland, 15 California, 14 and in Spain 17 do not show a more favourable stage distribution at repeat screening than at first screenings.…”

Review of contemporary computing technology to enhance breast imaging

“…Mammography has been shown to reduce cancer mortality by up to approximately 40% [5][6][7][8][9]. Cancers detected with the aid of available comparison mammograms have more favorable characteristics than when prior exams are not available [10]. Comparison with previous examinations is associated with a significant decrease in the frequency of axillary node metastasis and the cancer stage for screening mammography 11 .…”