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Sensitivity and Specificity for 4,032,556 Screening Mammography Examinations from 1996 - 2005

  All Screening Examinations
Sensitivity* 78.7%
True positives 19,156
Cancers 24,351
Specificity§ 89.5%
True negatives|| 3,589,2132
Non-Cancers# 4,008,205

*  Sensitivity = the percentage of cancers that had an abnormal interpretation (BI-RADS category 0,4,5, or 3 with a recommendation for immediate work-up)

 True Positive = the number of cancers that had an abnormal interpretation

 Cancers = the number examinations with a tissue diagnosis of cancer within 1 year following the examination

§  Specificity = the percentage of non-cancers that had a negative interpretation (BI-RADS category 1, 2, or 3 without a recommendation for immediate work-up)

||  True Negative = the number of non-cancers that had a negative interpretation

#  Non-cancers = the number examinations without a tissue diagnosis of cancer within 1 year following the examination

The following source must be cited when reproducing this table: NCI-funded Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium co-operative agreement (U01CA63740, U01CA86076, U01CA86082, U01CA63736, U01CA70013, U01CA69976, U01CA63731, U01CA70040). Downloaded xx/xx/xx from the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium Web site - http://breastscreening.cancer.gov/data/benchmarks/screening/tableSensSpec.html

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