Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Towards optimisation of compression force in mammography (2019)
Thesis
Szczepura, K. (2019). Towards optimisation of compression force in mammography. (Thesis). University of Salford

This work focusses on the compression force applied to the breast during mammographic imaging. The lack of guidance and evidence base has led to variability in practice, and the implications of this will be discussed. All research was carried out on... Read More about Towards optimisation of compression force in mammography.

Hounsfield Unit inaccuracy in computed tomography lesion size and density, diagnostic quality vs attenuation correction (2017)
Journal Article
Szczepura, K., Thompson, J., & Manning, D. (2017). Hounsfield Unit inaccuracy in computed tomography lesion size and density, diagnostic quality vs attenuation correction. Proceedings of SPIE, 10136, https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2254275

In computed tomography the Hounsfield Units (HU) are used as an indicator of the tissue type based on the linear attenuation coefficients of the tissue. HU accuracy is essential when this metric is used in any form to support diagnosis. In hybrid ima... Read More about Hounsfield Unit inaccuracy in computed tomography lesion size and density, diagnostic quality vs attenuation correction.

Impact of tube current modulation on lesion conspicuity index in hi-resolution chest computed tomography (2017)
Journal Article
Szczepura, K., Tomkinson, D., & Manning, D. (2017). Impact of tube current modulation on lesion conspicuity index in hi-resolution chest computed tomography. Proceedings of SPIE, 10136, https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2254256

Tube current modulation is a method employed in the use of CT in an attempt to optimize radiation dose to the patient. The acceptable noise (noise index) can be varied, based on the level of optimization required; higher accepted noise reduces the pa... Read More about Impact of tube current modulation on lesion conspicuity index in hi-resolution chest computed tomography.

Effects of increased compression with an ultrasound transducer on the conspicuity of breast lesions in a phantom (2017)
Journal Article
Szczepura, K., Faqir, T., & Manning, D. (2017). Effects of increased compression with an ultrasound transducer on the conspicuity of breast lesions in a phantom. Proceedings of SPIE, 10136, https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2254263

Ultrasound imaging of the breast is highly operator dependent. The amount of pressure applied with the transducer has a direct impact on the lesion visibility in breast ultrasound. The conspicuity index is a quantitative measure of lesion visibility,... Read More about Effects of increased compression with an ultrasound transducer on the conspicuity of breast lesions in a phantom.

A JAFROC study of nodule detection performance in CT images of a thorax acquired during PET/CT (2017)
Journal Article
Thompson, J., Wareing, A., Szczepura, K., Vinjamuri, S., & Hogg, P. (2017). A JAFROC study of nodule detection performance in CT images of a thorax acquired during PET/CT. Radiography, 23(3), 191-196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radi.2017.03.001

Purpose
Two types of CT images (modalities) are acquired in PET/CT: for attenuation correction (AC) and diagnosis. The purpose of the study was to compare nodule detection and localization performance between these two modalities.


Methods
CT... Read More about A JAFROC study of nodule detection performance in CT images of a thorax acquired during PET/CT.

Analysis of effective and organ dose estimation in CT when using mA modulation : a single scanner pilot study (2017)
Journal Article
Tootell, A., Szczepura, K., & Hogg, P. (2017). Analysis of effective and organ dose estimation in CT when using mA modulation : a single scanner pilot study. Radiography, 23(2), 159-166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radi.2017.02.006

Effective dose (ED) estimation in CT examinations can be obtained by combining dose length product (DLP) with published ED per DLP coefficients or performed using software. These methods do not account for tube current (mA) modulation which is influe... Read More about Analysis of effective and organ dose estimation in CT when using mA modulation : a single scanner pilot study.

Effective dose and effective risk from post-SPECT imaging of the lumbar spine (2016)
Journal Article
Tootell, A., McEntee, M., Szczepura, K., & Hogg, P. (2016). Effective dose and effective risk from post-SPECT imaging of the lumbar spine. Journal of Medical Imaging and Radiation Sciences, 47(3), 267-275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmir.2016.04.012

Purpose
Planar bone scans play an important role in the staging and monitoring of malignancy and metastases. Metastases in the lumbar spine are associated with significant morbidity, therefore accurate diagnosis is essential. Supplementary imaging... Read More about Effective dose and effective risk from post-SPECT imaging of the lumbar spine.

Validated novel software to measure the conspicuity index of lesions in DICOM images (2016)
Journal Article
Szczepura, K., & Manning, D. (2016). Validated novel software to measure the conspicuity index of lesions in DICOM images. Proceedings of SPIE, 9787, https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2216211

Description of purpose
A novel software programme and associated Excel spreadsheet has been developed to provide an objective measure of the expected visual detectability of focal abnormalities within DICOM images.
Methodology
ROIs are drawn ar... Read More about Validated novel software to measure the conspicuity index of lesions in DICOM images.

Effect of reconstruction methods and x-ray tube current-time product on nodule detection in an anthropomorphic thorax phantom : a crossed-modality JAFROC observer study (2016)
Journal Article
Thompson, J., Chakraborty, D., Szczepura, K., Tootell, A., Vamvakas, I., Manning, D., & Hogg, P. (2016). Effect of reconstruction methods and x-ray tube current-time product on nodule detection in an anthropomorphic thorax phantom : a crossed-modality JAFROC observer study. Medical Physics, 43(3), 1265-1274. https://doi.org/10.1118/1.4941017

Purpose: To evaluate nodule detection in an anthropomorphic chest phantom in computed tomography (CT) images reconstructed with adaptive iterative dose reduction 3D (AIDR3D) and filtered back projection (FBP) over a range of tube current-time product... Read More about Effect of reconstruction methods and x-ray tube current-time product on nodule detection in an anthropomorphic thorax phantom : a crossed-modality JAFROC observer study.

Does elevating image receptor increase breast receptor footprint and improve pressure balance? (2015)
Journal Article
Smith, H., Szczepura, K., Mercer, C., Maxwell, A., & Hogg, P. (2015). Does elevating image receptor increase breast receptor footprint and improve pressure balance?. Radiography, 21(4), 359-363. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radi.2015.02.001

There is no consensus in the literature regarding the image receptor (IR) position for the cradio-caudal
projection in mammography. Some literature indicates the IR should be positioned to the infra mammary
fold (IMF); other literature suggests the... Read More about Does elevating image receptor increase breast receptor footprint and improve pressure balance?.

Comparison of effective dose and lifetime risk of cancer Incidence of CT attenuation correction acquisitions and radiopharmaceutical administration for myocardial perfusion imaging (2014)
Journal Article
Tootell, A., Szczepura, K., & Hogg, P. (2014). Comparison of effective dose and lifetime risk of cancer Incidence of CT attenuation correction acquisitions and radiopharmaceutical administration for myocardial perfusion imaging. British Journal of Radiology, 87(1041), 20140110. https://doi.org/10.1259/bjr.20140110

Objective: To measure the organ dose and calculate effective dose from CT attenuation correction (CTAC) acquisitions from four commonly used gamma camera single photon emission CT/CT systems.

Methods: CTAC dosimetry data was collected using therm... Read More about Comparison of effective dose and lifetime risk of cancer Incidence of CT attenuation correction acquisitions and radiopharmaceutical administration for myocardial perfusion imaging.

A 6 year study of mammographic compression force : practitioner variability within and between screening sites (2014)
Journal Article
Mercer, C., Szczepura, K., Kelly, J., Millington, S., Denton, D., Borgen, R., …Hogg, P. (2015). A 6 year study of mammographic compression force : practitioner variability within and between screening sites. Radiography, 21(1), 68-73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radi.2014.07.004

Background
The application of compression force in mammography is more heavily influenced by the practitioner rather than the client. This can affect client experience, radiation
dose and image quality. This research investigates practitioner comp... Read More about A 6 year study of mammographic compression force : practitioner variability within and between screening sites.

An audit to investigate the impact of false positive breast screening results and diagnostic work-up on re-engagement with subsequent routine screening (2014)
Journal Article
Nightingale, J., Borgen, R., Porter-Bennett, L., & Szczepura, K. (2014). An audit to investigate the impact of false positive breast screening results and diagnostic work-up on re-engagement with subsequent routine screening. Radiography, 21(1), 7-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radi.2014.05.005

Introduction: Women attending breast screening may have suspicious mammographic findings that are subsequently found at assessment clinic to be normal (false positive, FP). A false positive diagnosis is not harmless, with short and long term negativ... Read More about An audit to investigate the impact of false positive breast screening results and diagnostic work-up on re-engagement with subsequent routine screening.

An overview of measuring and modelling dose and risk from ionising radiation for medical exposures (2014)
Journal Article
risk from ionising radiation for medical exposures. Radiography, 20(4), 323-332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radi.2014.05.002

PURPOSE: This paper gives an overview of the methods that are used to calculate dose and risk from exposure to ionizing radiation as a support to other papers in this special issue.
BACKGROUND: The optimization of radiation dose is a legal requir... Read More about An overview of measuring and modelling dose and risk from ionising radiation for medical exposures.

A free-response evaluation determining value in the computed tomography attenuation correction image for revealing pulmonary incidental findings : a phantom study (2014)
Journal Article
Thompson, J., Hogg, P., Manning, D., Szczepura, K., & Chakraborty, D. (2014). A free-response evaluation determining value in the computed tomography attenuation correction image for revealing pulmonary incidental findings : a phantom study. Academic radiology, 21(4), 538-545. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acra.2014.01.003

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to compare lesion-detection performance when interpreting computed tomography (CT) images that are acquired for attenuation correction when performing single photon emission computed tomography/... Read More about A free-response evaluation determining value in the computed tomography attenuation correction image for revealing pulmonary incidental findings : a phantom study.

Fact or fiction : an analysis of the 10 kVp ‘rule’ in computed radiography (2013)
Journal Article
radiography. Radiography, 19(3), 223-227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radi.2013.05.003

Purpose: To determine whether increasing the tube voltage by 10 kVp whilst reducing the tube current by
50% (10 kVp ‘rule’) produces similar perceptual image quality.
Method: 391 matched pairs of anthropomorphic chest phantom X-ray images were pro... Read More about Fact or fiction : an analysis of the 10 kVp ‘rule’ in computed radiography.

Tissue bulge during stereotactic core biopsy (2013)
Journal Article
Hackney, L., Williams, S., Hogg, P., & Szczepura, K. (2013). Tissue bulge during stereotactic core biopsy. Radiography, 19(4), 366-368. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radi.2013.06.007

In full field digital mammography (FFDM) the whole breast is subjected to compression with a perspex compression paddle in order to reduce breast thickness and improve image quality. Once a mammographic abnormality has been detected using FFDM and a... Read More about Tissue bulge during stereotactic core biopsy.

Practitioner compression force variation in mammography : a 6 year study (2013)
Journal Article
Mercer, C., Hogg, P., Szczepura, K., & Denton, E. (2013). Practitioner compression force variation in mammography : a 6 year study. Radiography, 19(3), 200-206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radi.2013.06.001

The application of breast compression in mammography may be more heavily influenced by the practitioner
rather than the client. This could affect image quality and will affect client experience. This study builds on
previous research to establish i... Read More about Practitioner compression force variation in mammography : a 6 year study.

Optimising the number of thermoluminescent dosimeters required for the measurement of effective dose for computed tomography attenuation correction data in SPECT/CT myocardial perfusion imaging (2013)
Journal Article
Tootell, A., Szczepura, K., & Hogg, P. (2013). Optimising the number of thermoluminescent dosimeters required for the measurement of effective dose for computed tomography attenuation correction data in SPECT/CT myocardial perfusion imaging. Radiography, 19(1), 42-47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radi.2012.11.001

Background

The use of thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs) is regarded as time consuming and laborious. As part of our dosimetry research it was necessary to optimise the use of our resources, both physical and time. Experimental work was carried... Read More about Optimising the number of thermoluminescent dosimeters required for the measurement of effective dose for computed tomography attenuation correction data in SPECT/CT myocardial perfusion imaging.

Pressure and breast thickness in mammography : an exploratory calibration study (2013)
Journal Article
Hogg, P., Taylor, M., Szczepura, K., Mercer, C., & Denton, E. (2013). Pressure and breast thickness in mammography : an exploratory calibration study. British Journal of Radiology, 86(1021), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1259/bjr.20120222

Objective To perform a calibration study to provide data to help improve consistency in the pressure that is applied during mammography.

Methods Automatic readouts of breast thickness accuracy vary between mammography machines; therefore, one m... Read More about Pressure and breast thickness in mammography : an exploratory calibration study.