Mammography technology developer Sigmascreening announced more than 100,000 women have received mammographic compression with its Sensitive Sigma Paddle.
The firm also announced a study presented at RSNA 2018 that demonstrates the impact of a real-time pressure indicator during mammographic exam acquisition. In the study, researchers evaluated the effect on compression practice when replacing the pressure-based paddle with a conventional paddle without pressure indication in a group experienced technologists.
They found after removal of the pressure indicator, the average compression pressure and variance significantly increased, leading to more unfavorable over- and undercompression. The proportion of compressions in the pressure range 5 kPa to 15 kPa decreased from 87.4% to 77.9%. The proportion of high pressures (> 15 kPa) nearly doubled (11.0% to 18.8%) and low pressures (< 5 kPa) more than doubled (1.6% to 3.3%). The results indicate when removing the pressure indicator, compression variability increased rapidly, suggesting an indicator is needed to maintain compression reproducibility.











![A normal mammogram confirmed by three-year radiologic follow-up illustrates reader-marked regions of interest (ROIs) during (A) unaided (round 1) and (B) artificial intelligence (AI)–assisted (round 2) reading. Each colored dot represents an ROI for recall by a human reader. Readers could mark more than one ROI per case, represented by multiple dots of the same color. During AI-assisted reading, the AI system displayed three visible prompts: two with suspicion of malignancy scores of 35% (left mediolateral oblique [L MLO] and craniocaudal [L CC]) and one with a suspicion of malignancy score of 10% (right craniocaudal [R CC]), shown as polygonal overlays. Without AI, six of 10 readers (60%) marked a false-positive ROI. With AI assistance, this fell to two of 10 (20%). R MLO = right mediolateral oblique.](https://img.auntminnie.com/mindful/smg/workspaces/default/uploads/2026/07/2026-07-14-radiology-mammogram-ai-auto-bias.H0bYO8QlWs.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=crop&h=112&q=70&w=112)






