A recent study shows that by comparison, reading mammograms by two different radiologists, versus using just one radiologist aided by a computer, yields a similar rate of cancer detection.

The randomized study, which included 31,000 women, found that of 227 cancers, 198 – that’s 87.2% – were detected by a radiologist using a computer, very close to the 199 – 87.7% – detected by a pair of radiologists working in tandem.

This is good news for Britain, as in that country the standard practice for cancer screening is to use two independent radiologists; however in some more remote locations, sufficient staff is not always available, and some women aren’t invited for screenings as often as they should be. The findings of the study encourage more hospitals and medical practices to use Computer-Aided Detection (CAD), in interpreting mammograms, as this will make cancer screening more available to women who previously had limited access.

"Women should be reassured that the final decision on recall is made by the human reader using their knowledge and experience to decide if any areas of the mammogram marked by CAD merit further investigations," said Dr. Fiona Gilbert, professor of radiology with the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.

Using CAD, according to Dr. Gilbert, could improve the detection rate by as much as 10% in centers which have a shortage of readers and currently use only single reading. It has also been speculated that the detection rate of the computer method would increase even further if digital mammography was used in conjunction with this system. The comparative study which is the object of this article was conducted by using scanned copies of mammography films. This is essentially checking a copy, which may result in some information being lost to the computer. Thankfully most modern cancer screening centers do use digital mammography even if they don’t use CAD.

The find is also of great interest to screening centers across the United States, where the policy is currently to use a single reader, unaided. As explained by the director of breast imaging for Southfield, Michigan’s Providence Hospital, Dr. Thomas Hall, "Most mammograms are single-read in America, though most places now, when they get digital mammography, also get CAD."

Dr. Carol H. Lee, radiologist for the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and the head of the American College of Radiology's Breast Imaging Commission remarked that "In the United States, it's just not practical in most practices to do double readings by physicians. These results are reassuring to me that single reading with CAD can achieve that same sensitivity."

According to U.S. government recommendation, women over the age of 40 should get mammograms every one or two years, however there aren’t enough radiologists to do that and insurance companies don’t usually pay for a second reading. Medicare however, pays for computer-aided detection.