Is full-field digital mammography more accurate than screen-film mammography in overall population screening? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective: To compare the accuracy of screen-film mammography (SFM) and full-field digital mammography (FFDM) for population-based breast cancer screening. Study design and setting: A quantitative systematic review was performed including randomized controlled trials and cohort studies. Results: Ten studies (comprising 667,649 women, 82,573 of whom underwent SFM and FFDM) were included. The area under the summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve was 0.92 (SE +/- 0.06) for SFM and 0.91 (SE +/- 0.11) for FFDM. The results in the random-effects model were 0.95 (95% CI, 0.72-1.24) and 0.52 (95% CI, 0.28-0.95) for SFM versus FFDM in all age and younger groups, respectively. Conclusion: FFDM is more accurate than SFM only in women less than 50 years old. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.