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 compression force variation over a six year screening cycle in three different screening units

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What is the minimum amount of simulated breast movement required for visual detection of blurring? An exploratory investigation. Br J Radiol 2015; 88: 20150126.

We aimed to examine a cohort of patients presenting with breast implant complications to establish the sensitivity and specificity of clinical examination, Ultrasound Scanning (US) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in the diagnosis of implant rupture, and to examine the correlation between US and MRI. We performed a 26-month retrospective review. Patients underwent US and MRI to exclude rupture. Results of US and MRI were compared prospectively for concordance, then retrospectively to clinical findings and surgical diagnosis. Thirty-four patients with 60 implants were reviewed. The sensitivities of clinical diagnosis, US, and MRI for rupture was 42%, 50%, and 83%, respectively, while the specificities were 50%, 90%, and 90%. The concordance between US and MRI was 87%. MRI is the investigation of choice for implant rupture. US is a valuable alternative with good concordance with MRI. When US is positive for implant rupture an MRI is not necessary to confirm the diagnosis. Knowledge of the sensitivity and specificity as well as the concordance between the two investigations is useful to ensure the appropriate use of available resources.

Objective: Motion blur is a known phenomenon in full-field digital mammography, but the impact on lesion detection is unknown. This is the first study to investigate detection performance with varying magnitudes of simulated motion blur.Method: Seven observers (15±5 years' reporting experience) evaluated 248 cases (62 containing malignant masses, 62 containing malignant microcalcifications and 124 normal cases) for three conditions: no blurring (0 mm) and two magnitudes of simulated blurring (0.7 mm and 1.5 mm).Abnormal cases were biopsy proven. Mathematical simulation was used to provide a pixel shift in order to simulate motion blur. A free-response observer study was conducted to compare lesion detection performance for the three conditions. The equally weighted jackknife alternative freeresponse receiver operating characteristic (wJAFROC) was used as the figure of merit. Test alpha was set at 0.05 to control probability of Type I error.Results: wJAFROC analysis found a statistically significant difference in lesion detection Advances in knowledge:This research demonstrates for the first time that motion blur has a negative and statistically significant impact on lesion detection performance digital mammography.