Reducing ' probably benign ' assessments in normal mammograms: The role of radiologist experience

Rationale and objectives: to investigate the relationship between radiologists' experience in reporting mammograms, their caseloads, and the classification of category ‘3′ or ‘Probably Benign’ on normal mammograms. Materials and Methods: A total of 92 board-certified radiologists participated....

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mohammad A. Rawashdeh, Patrick C. Brennan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2023-01-01
Series:European Journal of Radiology Open
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352047723000242
_version_ 1797802173924376576
author Mohammad A. Rawashdeh
Patrick C. Brennan
author_facet Mohammad A. Rawashdeh
Patrick C. Brennan
author_sort Mohammad A. Rawashdeh
collection DOAJ
description Rationale and objectives: to investigate the relationship between radiologists' experience in reporting mammograms, their caseloads, and the classification of category ‘3′ or ‘Probably Benign’ on normal mammograms. Materials and Methods: A total of 92 board-certified radiologists participated. Self-reported parameters related to experience, including age, years since qualifying as a radiologist, years of experience reading mammograms, number of mammograms read per year, and hours spent reading mammograms per week, were documented. To assess the radiologists' accuracy, ''Probably Benign fractions” was calculated by dividing the number of ''Probably Benign findings'' given by each radiologist in the normal cases by the total number of normal cases Probably Benign fractions were correlated with various factors, such as the radiologists' experience. Results: The results of the statistical analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between radiologist experience and 'Probably Benign' fractions for normal images. Specifically, for normal cases, the number of mammograms read per year (r = −0.29, P = 0.006) and the number of mammograms read over the radiologist's lifetime (r = −0.21, P = 0.049) were both negatively correlated with 'Probably Benign' fractions Conclusion: The results indicate that a relationship exists between increased reading volumes and reduced assessments of 'Probably Benign' in normal mammograms. The implications of these findings extend to the effectiveness of screening programs and the recall rates.
first_indexed 2024-03-13T05:02:31Z
format Article
id doaj.art-65b48fb05853499d829deaf005e665e5
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2352-0477
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-13T05:02:31Z
publishDate 2023-01-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series European Journal of Radiology Open
spelling doaj.art-65b48fb05853499d829deaf005e665e52023-06-17T05:18:56ZengElsevierEuropean Journal of Radiology Open2352-04772023-01-0110100498Reducing ' probably benign ' assessments in normal mammograms: The role of radiologist experienceMohammad A. Rawashdeh0Patrick C. Brennan1Faculty of Health Sciences, Gulf Medical University, Ajman, United Arab Emirates; Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid 222110, Jordan; Corresponding author at: Faculty of Health Sciences, Gulf Medical University, Ajman, United Arab Emirates.Medical Image Optimisation and Perception Group (MIOPeG), Sydney School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, AustraliaRationale and objectives: to investigate the relationship between radiologists' experience in reporting mammograms, their caseloads, and the classification of category ‘3′ or ‘Probably Benign’ on normal mammograms. Materials and Methods: A total of 92 board-certified radiologists participated. Self-reported parameters related to experience, including age, years since qualifying as a radiologist, years of experience reading mammograms, number of mammograms read per year, and hours spent reading mammograms per week, were documented. To assess the radiologists' accuracy, ''Probably Benign fractions” was calculated by dividing the number of ''Probably Benign findings'' given by each radiologist in the normal cases by the total number of normal cases Probably Benign fractions were correlated with various factors, such as the radiologists' experience. Results: The results of the statistical analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between radiologist experience and 'Probably Benign' fractions for normal images. Specifically, for normal cases, the number of mammograms read per year (r = −0.29, P = 0.006) and the number of mammograms read over the radiologist's lifetime (r = −0.21, P = 0.049) were both negatively correlated with 'Probably Benign' fractions Conclusion: The results indicate that a relationship exists between increased reading volumes and reduced assessments of 'Probably Benign' in normal mammograms. The implications of these findings extend to the effectiveness of screening programs and the recall rates.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352047723000242MammographyRadiologist performanceProbably benign
spellingShingle Mohammad A. Rawashdeh
Patrick C. Brennan
Reducing ' probably benign ' assessments in normal mammograms: The role of radiologist experience
European Journal of Radiology Open
Mammography
Radiologist performance
Probably benign
title Reducing ' probably benign ' assessments in normal mammograms: The role of radiologist experience
title_full Reducing ' probably benign ' assessments in normal mammograms: The role of radiologist experience
title_fullStr Reducing ' probably benign ' assessments in normal mammograms: The role of radiologist experience
title_full_unstemmed Reducing ' probably benign ' assessments in normal mammograms: The role of radiologist experience
title_short Reducing ' probably benign ' assessments in normal mammograms: The role of radiologist experience
title_sort reducing probably benign assessments in normal mammograms the role of radiologist experience
topic Mammography
Radiologist performance
Probably benign
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352047723000242
work_keys_str_mv AT mohammadarawashdeh reducingprobablybenignassessmentsinnormalmammogramstheroleofradiologistexperience
AT patrickcbrennan reducingprobablybenignassessmentsinnormalmammogramstheroleofradiologistexperience