Abstract
Mammographic test sets are a prominent form of quality assurance in breast screening and they have been associated in the lab with positive changes in radiologists' performance. Focusing on this educational value, we examined the clinical audit history of 19 participants in the BreastScreen Reader Assessment Strategy (BREAST) test sets to investigate if changes in clinical performance reflected test-set participation. Included participants were radiologists who have read for BreastScreen New South Wales (NSW) in the period between 2010 and 2018 and who read on average 2000 cases or more in those years. Their audit data included 2 years before and 2 years after test-set participation. Wilcoxon Signed Ranks tests were used to investigate the difference in recall rates, cancer detection rates, and positive predictive value (PPV) for the cohort before and after test-set participation. The data indicated that, over time, radiologists have significantly improved recall rate (screening rounds 2+), PPV, and the detection of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Those results suggest that breast screen readers who participate with test-set readings improve their clinical performance.