Pandemic affected DBT recall, false-positive rates

In this Sunday presentation, researchers will discuss the results of a study measuring how the COVID-19 pandemic affected recall and false-positive rates for digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) and digital mammography.

Grayson Baird, PhD, of Brown University will present the findings of her team, which reviewed 103,065 screening DBT and mammography exams from March 2019 to March 2021 at 13 outpatient centers.

The group found that before the pandemic, for every later hour of the time of day, the odds of recall increased for DBT but not for mammography. However, during the pandemic, for every hour increase, the odds of recall were flat for both imaging methods.

"These results indicate that the time-of-day effect [as the day increased, recall increased perhaps due to fatigue] disappeared after caseloads declined due to COVID-19," the researchers said.

Find out what else the team discovered in this presentation.