As a measure of quality assurance in mammography screening in Germany, obligatory double reading of histopathological specimens is currently a subject of debate. Concordance rates of more than 6000 cases gathered from several reference centres were evaluated. In accordance with several international studies, overall agreement in single and double readings in German mammography screening was approximately 95%. Concordance rates were even higher for malignancies (99%). Variations are more common in the case of lesions, the biological significance of which remains unclear (flat atypia, lobular neoplasm, papilloma). This is the result of a currently unresolvable methodological rather classification problem, as seen from studies from countries with many years of experience in training and diagnostic test series. Thus, the evidence base is currently insufficient to mandate double reading of slides.
