The recent degradation of radiologists' ability to read the gastric X-ray film and the shortage of doctors who engage in screening are nation-wide problems in Japan. In the radiology department of Kumamoto University, radiologists who have been screening for over 5 years take turns in reading the gastric X-ray film. Then the films are double checked by the radiologists who have more than 10 years of experience. And case study conferences are held regularly for radiologists to develop their

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... ties. We have tested 8 radiologists who have different numbers of years of experience, in order to evaluate the present system of and the training method for gastric X-ray reading. The result was that the longer the experience, the better the grades. The result also suggested that even 10 years of experience is not enough to achieve sufficient mastery. Because there are not many opportunities to examine gastric X-ray images daily, it is very difficult for radiologists to develop their reading ability. We cannot say that the present training for the reading of gastric X-ray films at Kumamoto University has not had any effects on the results of the screening. It is our urgent task to improve the reading ability of our radiologists, and to develop a training system which can consolidate their reading abilities efficiently.