ARTICLE Radiologist Characteristics Associated With Interpretive Performance of Diagnostic

Radiologists ’ interpretive performance of mammography has remained highly variable despite improvements in the technical quality of mammography since the implementation of the Mammography Quality Standards Act of 1992 ( 1). Most studies on variability in mammography interpretation have focused on screening examinations; however, understanding variability in the performance of diagnostic mammography is equally important because the prevalence of breast cancer is approximately 10-fold higher and the stage of disease more advanced in women receiving diagnostic mammography than in those receiving screening mam-mography ( 2). Sickles et al. ( 2) evaluated the performance of diag-nostic mammography for 646 radiologists in the United States and found that the abnormal interpretation rate for mammograms performed for the evaluation of a palpable breast lump range