Changing case Order to Optimise patterns of Performance in mammography Screening (CO-OPS): study protocol for a...

Area of Science:

• Radiology
• Medical Imaging
• Public Health

Background:

• X-ray mammography is the primary breast cancer screening tool.
• Repetitive tasks in screening can lead to vigilance decrement, reducing performance.
• Current practice involves two expert readers examining mammograms in the same order.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a computer software intervention designed to mitigate vigilance decrement in breast cancer screening.
• To investigate if reversing mammogram reading order improves cancer detection rates.

Main Methods:

• A pragmatic, multi-centre, double-blind, cluster-randomised controlled trial (CO-OPS study).
• Intervention: Mammogram batches read in opposite orders by two readers.
• Control: Mammogram batches read in the same order.
• Primary outcome: Cancer detection rate.

Main Results:

• The study hypothesizes higher cancer detection rates in the intervention group.
• This is due to readers' peak performance occurring on different mammograms.
• Secondary outcomes include disagreement rates, recall rates, and interval cancer rates.

Conclusions:

• This is the first trial investigating an intervention for vigilance decrement in breast cancer screening.
• The findings aim to improve the accuracy and effectiveness of breast cancer screening programs.