Should surgeons as well as radiologists report mammograms in symptomatic patients?

This study compared the accuracy of interpretation by surgeons and radiolog ists of 1053 women who had two view mammography and a histological or cytol ogical diagnosis of benign or malignant breast disease. Patients with large or locally advanced breast cancers who had definite clinical findings wher e radiology was not required to make a diagnosis were excluded. The sensiti vity for radiologists was non-significantly greater (81%) than surgeons (78 %), but specificity and positive predictive value was identical in the two groups of readers. Combining the reports of the radiologists and surgeons i ncreased sensitivity to 85.4% which is a significant increase in the sensit ivity of the radiologist alone, P = 0.02. This study indicates that symptom atic mammograms should be read by surgeons as well as radiologists. (C) 200 0 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.