Impact of digital breast tomosynthesis for readers with different experience

摘要

The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of adding digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) to digital mammography (DM) on sensitivity and specificity scores for readers with different DM and DBT experience compared with that of DM alone. Ethical committee approval was obtained. 41 DM and DBT cases (22 cancer. 19 normal), each containing two views, were reviewed by 18 readers, divided into groups according to level of experience with DBT and DM. Readers were asked to report each case in two modes (DM and DM+DBT) using a 5-point scale (1- Normal, 2- Benign. 3-Equivocal. 4-Suspicious. 5- Malignant). The radiologists' diagnostic performance was compared between DM and DM + DBT and evaluated by sensitivity and specificity. Readers with no DBT workshop showed higher sensitivity using DM+DBT compared with DM (P-value 0.03). Female readers, readers with less than 5 years of DM experience, readers with more than 20 mammography reads per week, readers who are not using DBT in clinical practice, readers with mammography fellowship, and readers who had a DBT workshop showed a significantly higher specificity using DM+DBT in comparison to DM alone (P-values 0.01, 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.03, 0.03, 0.01 respectively). The current study showed that the addition of DBT to DM might not significantly change the readers performance in terms sensitivity, however it may result in less number of recalls to additional examinations which provides a substantial benefit in the screening and diagnostic settings.