Experience of a single healthcare system with screening mammography before and after COVID-19 shutdown.

Purpose: To evaluate COVID-19's longitudinal impact on screening mammography volume trends.

Methods: HIPAA-compliant, IRB-approved, single institution, retrospective study of screening mammogram volumes before (10/21/2016-3/16/2020) and greater than two years after (6/17/2020-11/30/2022) a state-mandated COVID-19 shutdown (3/17/2020-6/16/2020) were reviewed. A segmented quasi-poisson linear regression model adjusting for seasonality and network and regional population growth compared volume trends before and after the shutdown of each variable: age, race, language, financial source, risk factor for severe COVID-19, and examination location.

Audit of Prior Screening Mammograms of Screen-Detected Cancers: Implications for the Delay in Breast Cancer Detection.

When cancer is detected in a screening mammogram, on occasion retrospective review of prior screening (pre-index) mammograms indicates a likely presence of cancer. These missed cancers during pre-index screens constitute a delay in detection and diagnosis. This study was undertaken to quantify the missed cancer rate by auditing pre-index screens to improve the quality of mammography screening practice.

Qualifying Certainty in Radiology Reports through Deep Learning-Based Natural Language Processing.

Background And Purpose: Communication gaps exist between radiologists and referring physicians in conveying diagnostic certainty. We aimed to explore deep learning-based bidirectional contextual language models for automatically assessing diagnostic certainty expressed in the radiology reports to facilitate the precision of communication.

Materials And Methods: We randomly sampled 594 head MR imaging reports from an academic medical center.

Patients characteristics related to screening mammography cancellation and rescheduling rates during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Purpose: To identify patient characteristics associated with screening mammography cancellations and rescheduling during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Scheduled screening mammograms during three time periods were retrospectively reviewed: state-mandated shutdown (3/17/2020-6/16/2020) during which screening mammography was cancelled, a period of 2 months immediately after screening mammography resumed (6/17/2020-8/16/2020), and a representative period prior to COVID-19 (6/17/2019-8/16/2019). Relative risk of cancellation before COVID-19 and after reopening was compared for age, race/ethnicity, insurance, history of chronic disease, and exam location, controlling for other collected variables.