Assessing the impact of CAD on the sensitivity and specificity of film readers

To assess the impact of computer-aided detection (CAD) prompts on film readers' sensitivity and specificity.

Thirty-five readers read 120 films, including 44 cancers, 40 of which were prompted. All readers looked at all cases with and without prompts. The sensitivity and specificity were calculated for each reader under each condition.

The sensitivity improved when CAD prompts were used (0.80 from 0.77). The difference was slightly below the threshold for statistical significance (95% CI for the difference is -0.0027-0.064). The specificity also improved (0.86 from 0.85), but not significantly. There was a significant improvement in sensitivity when readers' judgements were combined to simulate double reading, from 0.77 to 0.81. (95% CI for the difference is 0.014-0.077).

Analysis of prompted cancers that readers did and did not recall, found that cases were more likely to be correctly recalled if there were emphasized prompts, more prompts or if the case was harder. There was no statistically significant effect for type of abnormality or tumour size or for the performance, attitude or experience of the reader.