Radiography最新文献

{"title":"Cardiac dose comparison of abdominal and thoracic deep inspiration breath hold in adult female with left-sided breast cancer receiving radiation therapy: A systematic review and meta-analysis","authors":"W.Y.C. Pang ,&nbsp;K.S. Yu ,&nbsp;A.Y. Loke","doi":"10.1016/j.radi.2024.12.013","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.radi.2024.12.013","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><div>Deep inspiration breath hold technique has shown promise in reducing cardiac toxicity and improving patient outcomes. However, there is a lack of consensus regarding the implementation of abdominal breath hold technique and its impact on cardiac dose. This systematic review and meta-analysis aim to provide insights into the comparative effectiveness of abdominal and thoracic breath hold in mitigating cardiac toxicity during radiation therapy for left-sided breast cancer.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>A comprehensive literature search was conducted in electronic databases (PubMed, Medline, Science Direct) to identify relevant studies. Dosimetric comparison studies between abdominal and thoracic breath hold conducted on adult female patients with primary left-sided breast cancer undergoing DIBH radiation therapy were included. Random effects meta-analyses were performed to estimate pooled effect sizes, and heterogeneity was evaluated using I² statistic.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>A total of four studies, encompassing 166 patients, were included in the review. Meta-analysis revealed a statistically significant reduction in the mean dose to the left anterior descending artery with abdominal breath hold compared to thoracic breath hold (2.03Gy, 95%CI 0.58–3.47). No significant difference was observed in mean heart dose between the two techniques (0Gy, 95%CI -0.28–0.27).</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>Variations in patient coaching and radiation therapy planning practices may impact the achieved cardiac dose reduction. Further studies are warranted to evaluate long-term clinical outcomes associated with different DIBH techniques and optimize treatment planning strategies in left-sided breast radiation therapy.</div></div><div><h3>Implication for practice</h3><div>Results of the study suggested that implementation of abdominal DIBH may reduce the potential risk of radiation-related cardiac complications. By establishing consistent standards for coaching techniques, radiation therapists can promote uniformity in training and improve the accuracy and reproducibility of breath hold treatments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47416,"journal":{"name":"Radiography","volume":"31 1","pages":"Pages 426-433"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142956608","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Exploring gender-based stress disparities among radiography students: A comparative analysis across Egypt, UAE, and Jordan","authors":"M.A. Ali ,&nbsp;M.Z. El-Sayed ,&nbsp;M.M. El Safwany ,&nbsp;H.G.E. Mohamed Ali Hassan ,&nbsp;M.G. Khattap ,&nbsp;M. Bekheet ,&nbsp;M.M. Abuzaid ,&nbsp;W. Alomaim ,&nbsp;M.A. Sayah ,&nbsp;I.G. Abdelrhman ,&nbsp;M. Ahmed ,&nbsp;Z. Adnan ,&nbsp;M. Rawashdeh","doi":"10.1016/j.radi.2024.12.008","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.radi.2024.12.008","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><div>Radiography students experience high levels of stress due to demanding academic studies and clinical training. Expanding this study to different settings could provide insights for customized interventions.</div><div>This study aims to investigate the prevalence and causes of stress experienced by radiography students across university settings in Egypt, the UAE, and Jordan, with particular attention to gender-based differences. By analyzing stress levels across these diverse academic environments, the study seeks to identify key stressors specific to each region, as well as any differences in stress impact related to gender, academic demands, and cultural contexts.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>This cross-sectional study involved 608 radiography students from accredited programs in Egypt, UAE, and Jordan, selected through convenience and snowball sampling. A 96-question online survey, developed following CHERRIES guidelines, was distributed via university channels and social media. Data was analyzed using IBM SPSS. The questionnaire's reliability was confirmed through a test-retest method, yielding a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.82.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Out of 608 radiography students surveyed, stress levels differed by gender. Specifically, 11.7 % of students reported extremely high stress, with 5 % of males and 14.4 % of females. Gender disparities were evident that females experienced significantly higher stress than males in areas such as quality of education, exams, GPA, fear of mistakes, clinical factors, patient care, lack of relaxation time, and health problems (p &lt; 0.001). In the UAE, 41.8 % of students believe a lack of time with family and friends significantly affects their stress, followed closely by 41.7 % in Egypt and 30.5 % in Jordan (p = 0.001).</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>The study identifies gender-specific discrepancies in stress among university students, demonstrating that female students experience higher stress levels, influenced by factors such as academic standards, examinations, GPA, and work-life balance. Furthermore, students in Jordan and the UAE are facing academic workload stress, while Egyptian students deal with career uncertainty and family-related stress.</div></div><div><h3>Impact on practice</h3><div>The study emphasizes the importance of understanding diverse stressors among radiography students to provide insights that can inform tailored support strategies to enhance the well-being and academic performance of radiography students in these regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47416,"journal":{"name":"Radiography","volume":"31 1","pages":"Pages 385-396"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142873272","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A retrospective service evaluation of patient awareness and engagement, and medication compliance and adherence, in patients with opportunistically identified vertebral fragility fractures in a local fracture liaison service","authors":"R. James ,&nbsp;R. Meertens","doi":"10.1016/j.radi.2024.12.019","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.radi.2024.12.019","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><div>Fracture liaison services (FLS), often staffed by radiographers, identify and treat patients over the age of 50 at high risk of future fractures by intervening after the first fracture. Vertebral fragility fractures (VFF) are particularly disabling and are highly predictive of future fracture but are underdiagnosed as they often do not come to clinical attention. To review the behaviour traits of patient with opportunistically identified VFF's (OIVFF), local FLS data can be used to compare outcomes of OIVFF's with acute VFF's (AVFF) and non-hip/spine fragility fractures (NHSFF).</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>A retrospective service evaluation was completed using local FLS data from 1/1/22–31/12/22. A total of 1403 patients’ data was included. Data was grouped by fracture cohort to evaluate patient engagement, fracture awareness, medication compliance and adherence.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>The OIVFF cohort had the highest proportion of men at 32.4 %. There was little difference in engagement rates between cohorts but fracture awareness was low in the OIVFF cohort. Non-compliance to medication was highest in the NHSFF cohort. The OIVFF cohort had the highest number of patients no longer appropriate for treatment after 12 months (11.29 %). Medication adherence at 12 months was similar across cohorts.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>Patients with OIVFF's do not appear to behave differently to other symptomatic fracture types within the FLS pathway in terms of engagement, compliance or adherence.</div></div><div><h3>Implications for practice</h3><div>Awareness of fracture was low for VFF's and future improvement of the patient diagnosis communication pathway is recommended. Further research into the increased number of men with OIVFF is recommended to ensure the pathway is efficient and to review potential barriers to diagnosis. Results suggest continued exploration of improving opportunistic identification of vertebral fractures is justified.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47416,"journal":{"name":"Radiography","volume":"31 1","pages":"Pages 406-414"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142966667","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Does access to prior mammograms improve the performance of radiographers in interpreting screening mammograms?","authors":"J.D. Akwo ,&nbsp;P.D. (Yun) Trieu ,&nbsp;M.L. Barron ,&nbsp;T. Reynolds ,&nbsp;S.J. Lewis","doi":"10.1016/j.radi.2024.11.025","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.radi.2024.11.025","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><div>The impact of previous screening mammograms on radiographers' performance in mammography interpretation is unknown. This study assesses the impact that previous screening mammograms has on radiographers’ interpretation of mammograms.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Thirteen Australian radiographers working for the national breast screening service independently interpreted a mammography test-set containing mammograms of 28 women based on the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists’ classification. Twelve radiographers completed the “No prior test-set” (no previous mammograms available) while one radiographer completed the “Prior test-set” (most current screening mammograms with access to previous mammograms) in the first reading session. In the second reading session, 12 radiographers completed the “Prior test-set” and one radiographer completed the “No prior test-set”. Their performance with and without previous mammograms were calculated and compared.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>The availability of prior mammograms significantly improved specificity [81(range:58–95) vs. 60(range:37–79); p = 0.002], ROC [91(range:80–99) vs. 82 (range:57–91); p = 0.003], and JAFROC 87(range:73–99) vs. 79 (range:52–91); p = 0.01]. Prior mammograms also significantly reduced false positives (p = 0.002). No differences were observed between readings with and without previous mammograms in terms of sensitivity (p = 0.70) and lesion sensitivity (p = 0.82). Years qualified as a radiographer did not modify the influence of previous mammograms on specificity, ROC, and false positives. Years specialised as breast radiographer slightly modified the influence of previous mammograms in radiographers with ≥25 years of experience but not those with &lt;25 years of experience as breast radiographers.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>The availability of previous screening mammograms improves radiographers’ ability to discriminate between normal and abnormal mammograms and reduce the false positive rate without affecting the detection of breast cancer.</div></div><div><h3>Implications for practice</h3><div>The findings highlight the need for practices to store screening mammograms and for radiographers to actively refer to previous screening mammograms when interpreting mammograms from the current screening round. It also highlights the need for policies to establish a national accessible mammographic database platform for integrated clinics and to account for population mobility across states.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47416,"journal":{"name":"Radiography","volume":"31 1","pages":"Pages 247-253"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142808266","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evaluation of workload distribution and exposure factors in common use in ten general x-ray rooms in Ireland: An initial step towards protocol optimisation","authors":"C. Devery ,&nbsp;D. Cody ,&nbsp;L. Sweetman","doi":"10.1016/j.radi.2024.12.021","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.radi.2024.12.021","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><div>This study aimed to assess current practice in general x-ray rooms in three Irish hospitals. Evaluating the extent to which x-ray protocols are currently standardised can be considered as a preparatory step towards the larger goal of implementing optimisation in a diagnostic radiology department.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Data on various aspects of general x-ray room exposures was manually collected and analysed to highlight variations with exposure factors in use and workload distribution across each of the ten hospital x-ray rooms included in the study.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Workload distribution for the x-ray rooms surveyed demonstrated the most commonly performed x-ray, the chest x-ray, to account for 44 % of exposures acquired, compared to the most recently published national statistic of 31 %¹, suggesting a potential change in referral practices over the past decade. A high degree of protocol variation for the same imaging indications exists across the x-ray rooms included in the study, for example there were 14 protocols in routine use for shoulder imaging across the 10 x-ray rooms, spanning a wide range of tube potentials from 55 to 81 kVp.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>The lack of x-ray protocol standardisation (and associated image quality variation) prompts questions around the implementation of optimisation, as required by Irish legislation, for general x-ray protocols. National review of x-ray referral practices or most common general x-ray exposures in use would be welcomed, as deviations from the previously published dataset are locally evident.</div></div><div><h3>Implications for practice</h3><div>This body of work considers the variety of x-ray protocols in use for specific anatomical areas and outlines how similar analyses at a local level could provide a foundation for targeted optimisation exercises.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47416,"journal":{"name":"Radiography","volume":"31 1","pages":"Pages 419-425"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142966777","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Letter to Editor in response to Currie et al., 2023: With Generative AI, written assignments are moot – Think of something else","authors":"N. Yahya ,&nbsp;H.A. Manan","doi":"10.1016/j.radi.2024.12.017","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.radi.2024.12.017","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47416,"journal":{"name":"Radiography","volume":"31 1","pages":"Pages 442-443"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142966778","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Breath-hold diffusion-weighted MR imaging (DWI) using deep learning reconstruction: Comparison with navigator triggered DWI in patients with malignant liver tumors","authors":"M. Tanabe ,&nbsp;M. Higashi ,&nbsp;K. Miyoshi ,&nbsp;R. Morooka ,&nbsp;H. Kiyoyama ,&nbsp;K. Ihara ,&nbsp;Y. Kawano ,&nbsp;M. Yamane ,&nbsp;T. Yamaguchi ,&nbsp;K. Ito","doi":"10.1016/j.radi.2024.11.027","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.radi.2024.11.027","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><div>This study investigated the feasibility of single breath-hold (BH) diffusion-weighted MR imaging (DWI) using deep learning reconstruction (DLR) compared to navigator triggered (NT) DWI in patients with malignant liver tumors.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>This study included 91 patients who underwent both BH-DWI and NT-DWI with 3T MR system. Abdominal MR images were subjectively analyzed to compare visualization of liver edges, presence of ghosting artifacts, conspicuity of malignant liver tumors, and overall image quality. Then, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values of malignant liver tumors were objectively measured using regions of interest.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Image quality except conspicuity of malignant liver tumors were significantly better in BH-DW image than in NT-DW image (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.01). Regarding the conspicuity of malignant liver tumors, there was no statistically significant difference between BH-DWI and NT-DWI (<em>p</em> = 0.67). The conspicuity score of 1 or 2 was rendered in 19 (21 %) patients in NT-DWI group. Conversely, BH-DWI showed a score of 3 or 4 in 11 (58 %) of these 19 patients.</div><div>The SNR was significantly higher in BH-DWI than in NT-DWI (29.5 ± 14.0 vs. 27.3 ± 14.7, p &lt; 0.047). No significant difference was observed between CNR and ADC values of malignant liver tumors between BH-DWI and NT-DWI (5.67 ± 3.57 vs. 5.78 ± 3.08, <em>p</em> = 0.243; 997.2 ± 207.0 vs. 1021.0 ± 253.1, <em>p</em> = 0.547).</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>The BH-DWI using DLR is feasible for liver MRI by improving the SNR and overall image quality, and may play a complementary role to NT-DWI by improving the conspicuity of malignant liver tumor in patients with image distortion in NT-DWI.</div></div><div><h3>Implications for practice</h3><div>BH-DWI with DLR would be a preferred approach to achieving sufficient image quality in patients with an irregular triggering pattern, as an alternative to NT-DWI. A further reduction in BH duration (&lt;15 s) should be achieved, taking into account patient tolerance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47416,"journal":{"name":"Radiography","volume":"31 1","pages":"Pages 275-280"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142819845","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Analyzing the TotalSegmentator for facial feature removal in head CT scans","authors":"M. Lindholz ,&nbsp;R. Ruppel ,&nbsp;S. Schulze-Weddige ,&nbsp;G.L. Baumgärtner ,&nbsp;I. Schobert ,&nbsp;A. Panten ,&nbsp;R. Schmidt ,&nbsp;T.A. Auer ,&nbsp;J. Nawabi ,&nbsp;A.-M. Haack ,&nbsp;L. Stepansky ,&nbsp;L. Poggi ,&nbsp;R. Hosch ,&nbsp;C.A. Hamm ,&nbsp;T. Penzkofer","doi":"10.1016/j.radi.2024.12.018","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.radi.2024.12.018","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Facial recognition technology in medical imaging, particularly with head scans, poses privacy risks due to identifiable facial features. This study evaluates the use of facial recognition software in identifying facial features from head CT scans and explores a defacing pipeline using TotalSegmentator to reduce re-identification risks while preserving data integrity for research.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>1404 high-quality renderings from the UCLH EIT Stroke dataset, both with and without defacing were analysed. The performance of defacing with the face mask created by TotalSegmentator was compared to a state-of-the-art CT defacing algorithm. Face detection was performed using deep learning models. The cosine similarity between facial embeddings for intra- and inter-patient images was compared. A Support Vector Machine was trained on cosine similarity values to assess defacing performance, determining if two renderings came from the same patient. This analysis was conducted on defaced and non-defaced images using 5-fold cross-validation.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Faces were detected in 76.5 % of non-defaced images. Intra-patient images exhibited a median cosine similarity of 0.65 (IQR: 0.47–0.80), compared to 0.50 (IQR: 0.39–0.62) for inter-patient images. A binary classifier performed moderately on non-defaced images, achieving a ROC-AUC of 0.69 (SD = 0.01) and an accuracy of 0.65 (SD = 0.01) in distinguishing whether a scan belonged to the same or a different individual. Following defacing, performance declined markedly. Defacing with the TotalSegmentator decreased the ROC-AUC to 0.55 (SD = 0.02) and the accuracy to 0.56 (SD = 0.01), whereas the CTA-DEFACE algorithm brought the performance down to a ROC-AUC of 0.60 (SD = 0.02) and an accuracy of 0.59 (SD = 0.01). These results demonstrate the effectiveness of defacing algorithms in mitigating re-identification risks, with the TotalSegmentator providing slightly superior privacy protection.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>Facial recognition software can identify facial features from partial and complete head CT scan renderings. However, using the TotalSegmentator to deface images reduces re-identification risks to a near-chance level. We offer code to implement this privacy-preserving pipeline.</div></div><div><h3>Implications for practice</h3><div>Utilizing the TotalSegmentator framework, the proposed pipeline efficiently removes facial features from CT images, making it ideal for multi-site research and data sharing. It is a useful tool for radiographers and radiologists who must comply with medico-legal requirements necessitating the removal of facial features.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47416,"journal":{"name":"Radiography","volume":"31 1","pages":"Pages 372-378"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142928078","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Prelim ii - EFRS Member","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/S1078-8174(25)00017-3","DOIUrl":"10.1016/S1078-8174(25)00017-3","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47416,"journal":{"name":"Radiography","volume":"31 1","pages":"Page ii"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143148945","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Research active medical imaging professionals in Australian metropolitan health services embrace opportunities and can overcome obstacles to engage in research: A mixed methods study","authors":"A. Lewis ,&nbsp;A. Dennett ,&nbsp;A. Terrens ,&nbsp;M. Hanna ,&nbsp;G. McLean","doi":"10.1016/j.radi.2024.12.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.radi.2024.12.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><div>A minority of medical imaging professionals within Australian metropolitan healthcare services are engaging in research activity as part of an emerging research culture. This study aimed to explore the characteristics and experience of medical imaging professionals who engage in research to identify contextual and individual factors that empower them to participate in research.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>A mixed methods observational study consisting of quantitative (survey) and qualitative (semi-structured interview) components using an interpretative description approach was completed with research active medical imaging professionals (radiographers, nuclear medicine technologists and sonographers). Thematic analysis was performed on qualitative data and triangulation of qualitative and quantitative data provided an in-depth synthesis.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Fifteen participants completed the survey. Participants had moderate levels of research interest (median 4 points, interquartile range (IQR) 3–4), and higher confidence and experience than a general cohort of medical imaging professionals. Interviews (n = 14) found an overall theme that participants embraced opportunities and could overcome challenges related to research. This was driven by personal characteristics including a motivation to solve clinical problems. They overcame issues related to competing clinical and research demands and identified that support from research mentors was critical and pivotal to fuelling emerging research culture.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>Research active medical imaging professionals are interested in developing research skills and exhibit personal characteristics and drive that help them overcome common barriers to research participation when adequate support is provided.</div></div><div><h3>Implications for practice</h3><div>This study identified enablers to research in medical imaging departments including the importance of research support, especially research mentors. Findings from this study may support the development of research skills and culture among staff in medical imaging departments to ensure optimal care for patients.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47416,"journal":{"name":"Radiography","volume":"31 1","pages":"Pages 297-305"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142855921","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}