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Computer-assisted detection (CAD) was FDA-approved in 1998, is covered by many payers, and is used in almost three quarters of screening mammograms in the U.S. In an analysis of data from 1998 through 2006 at 90 mammography centers (25 of which used CAD for a mean of 27.5 months), investigators examined the ways in which CAD affected the performance of 1.6 million screening mammograms in more than 680,000 women.
Breast cancer was diagnosed within 1 year of screening in 7722 women (1.1%); CAD had been used in screening 1013 of these women. During the study period at facilities that did implement CAD, specificity fell from 91.9% to 91.4% (P<0.001), recall rates rose from 8.4% to 8.9% (P<0.001), sensitivity did not change, and detection rates f…