Real-time reading in mammography breast screening.

Area of Science:

• Radiology
• Oncology
• Public Health

Background:

• Mammography screening programs are crucial for early breast cancer detection.
• Real-time reading allows for immediate further investigations, potentially improving diagnostic accuracy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of real-time reading within a mammography screening program.
• To assess the impact of immediate further diagnostic investigations (FDI) on screening outcomes.

Main Methods:

• A 5-year retrospective analysis (1999-2004) of 54,472 women in the Marzana, Italy screening program.
• Immediate imaging and cytohistological FDI following real-time mammogram interpretation.
• Analysis of FDI rates, diagnostic yields, and breast cancer detection rates.

Main Results:

• High breast cancer detection rate (BCDR): 9.7/1000 first calls and 5.1/1000 recalls.
• Significant proportion of early-stage cancers (pTis-pT1a,b: 59.6%) and node-negative cancers (pN0: 61.2%).
• High rate of conservative surgical procedures (78.6%) and low false-negative rate (8.3%) for interval cancers.

Conclusions:

• The Marzana mammography screening program demonstrates high sensitivity with real-time reading.
• The approach facilitates early diagnosis and less invasive treatment for breast cancer.
• Further validation in other screening programs is recommended to confirm the benefits of real-time reading.