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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2022 Feb 1.
Published in final edited form as: AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2020 Dec 23;216(2):275–294. doi: 10.2214/AJR.20.24436

TABLE 1:

Summary of Studies Showing Incremental Increase in Cancer Detection and Decrease in Recall Rates After Addition of DBT to DM for Evaluation of Dense and Nondense Breasts

Finding, Breast Density, and Modality Ciatto et al., 2013 [35]a Rafferty et al., 2016 [43]b Østerås et al., 2019 [42]a,c Conant et al., 2019 [13]b
Value P Value P Value P Value P
CDR per 1000 screening examinations
 Nondense
  DM and DBT 8.4 (51/6079) 5.1 (455/89,171) 7.7 (122/15,785) 5.6 (87/15,612)
  DM 5.6 (34/6079) 4.2 (610/146,910) 6.0 (94/15,785) 4.5 (301/66,664)
  Differenced 2.8 < 0.0001 0.95 < 0.001 1.8 < 0.001 1.1 0.091
 Dense
  DM and DBT 6.6 (8/1215) 5.8 (495/84,243) 12.5 (106/8466) 7.8 (73/9321)
  DM 4.1 (5/1215) 4.5 (597/131,996) 9.7 (82/8466) 5.4 (192/35,309)
  Differenced 2.5 0.25 1.4 < 0.001 2.8 < 0.001 2.4 < 0.0001
 Heterogeneously dense
  DM and DBT NR 6.1 (450/72,481) 12.5 (83/6645) NR
  DM NR 4.5 (528/113,290) 9.6 (64/6645) NR
  Differenced 1.6 < 0.001 2.9 < 0.001
 Extremely dense
  DM and DBT NR 3.9 (45/11,762) 12.7 (23/1821) NR
  DM NR 3.8 (69/18,706) 9.9 (18/1821) NR
  Differenced 0.1 0.88 2.8 0.06
Recall rate per 1000 screening examinationse
 Nondense
  DM and DBT 39 (233/6028) 79 (6955/89,171) 79 (1246/15,785) 76 (2334/30,839)
  DM 45 (273/6028) 90 (12,845/146,910) 96 (1515/15,785) 100 (8549/85,275)
  Differenced −6 0.0035 −12 < 0.001 −17 < 0.001 −24 < 0.001
 Dense
  DM and DBT 66 (80/1207) 109 (9030/84,243) 125 (1061/8466) 105 (2109/20,070)
  DM 73 (88/1207) 127 (16,582/131,996) 133 (1126/8466) 135 (5931/44,094)
  Differenced −7 0.35 −18 < 0.001 −8 < 0.001 −30 < 0.0001
 Heterogeneously dense
  DM and DBT NR 110 (7852/72,481) 120 (804/6645) NR
  DM NR 128 (14,484/113,290) 132 (879/6645) NR
  Differenced −18 < 0.001 −12 < 0.001
 Extremely dense
  DM and DBT NR 98 (1178/11,762) 141 (257/1821) NR
  DM NR 114 (2098/18,706) 136 (247/1821) NR
  Differenced −16 < 0.001 5 0.82

Note—Nondense tissue was defined as almost entirely fatty tissue or scattered fibroglandular density, and dense tissue was defined as heterogeneously dense or extremely dense tissue. CDR = cancer detection rate, DBT = digital breast tomosynthesis, DM = 2D full-field digital mammography, NR = not reported.

a

Each patient had both standard DM and DBT examinations and served as her own control.

b

Historical controls for DM results.

c

Results are reported at the breast level and inferred at the participant level; one woman had bilateral breast cancer.

d

Difference between DM plus DBT versus DM alone.

e

All recalls are listed for Rafferty et al. [43] and for Østerås et al. [42], not limited to false-positives, to allow comparison with the other studies.