Screening digital mammography: one year result for the Alpes-Maritimes region

After one year of experience with screening digital mammography, the results of this technique (n=9640) are compared to screen-film mammography (n=240 376) with double reading. Evaluation for each technique of the rate of call-back, positive results before and after work-up by the first reader and distribution based on the BI-RADS classification by the ACR, rate of complementary US, detected abnormalities (microcalcifications) and detected cancers. The rate of positive mammograms was significantly higher for the digital technique (17.3% versus 15.1%) because of the first reader (16.3% versus 13.9%) whereas it was significantly lower after complementary work-up (3% versus 3.7%). The rate of BI-RADS 0 was significantly higher with digital imaging irrespective of patient age. The rate of US was higher for type 1 and 2 breasts at digital imaging (46% versus 36%, p