Webster Center for Quality and Safety
Email: mghradsmart@partners.org
Call: 1-617-643-4583
Our Mission
The mission of the Webster Center for Quality and Safety encompasses all aspects of quality and safety in radiology in addition to developing and promoting imaging methods that ensure the lowest achievable level of patient exposure to radiation. Following the example set by our namesake, Edward (Ted) W. Webster, the Center is dedicated to improving patient safety and maintaining high quality of care in radiology. We will share our work with radiologists, technologists and other imaging scientists around the world.
The original Webster Center for Advanced Research and Education in Radiation was founded by Department of Radiology Chairman Emeritus James H. Thrall, MD to work towards a primary goal of radiation dose reduction. With guidance from Radiologist-in-Chief James A. Brink, MD, the center has extended its goals to include:
- An extensive slate of research
- Publication of quality and safety practice from Mass General Imaging
- Dedicated education initiatives including continuing education courses and a fellowship program for visiting radiologists and technologists
Fellowships
The Webster Center for Quality and Safety will continue to offer national and international visiting fellowships for radiologists and technologists interested in CT radiation dose as it pertains to daily clinical practice.
Namesake
The Webster Center for Quality and Safety was founded in memory of the late Edward (Ted) W. Webster, PhD (1922 - 2005), who distinguished himself as an outstanding leader, educator, and scientist during his 47 years in the Mass General Department of Radiology and on the Harvard Medical School faculty. His leadership roles included radiation safety officer, chairman of the Radiation Safety and Radioactive Drug Research Committees and the Committee on Research and director of the Division of Radiological Sciences.
He was an active member of many national and international organizations, including the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) and the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation III (BEIR III) Committee for the National Academy of Sciences' National Research Council. He also contributed significantly to the works of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the International Council on Radiation Effects and Measurement, the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Council on Radiation Protection (ICRP), and the Atomic Bomb Casualty Committee.
In addition, Dr. Webster was a pioneer in the field of radiology education. He was instrumental in the development of the radiological physics curriculum and examination system for the American Board of Radiology and he founded and directed the New England Roentgen Ray Society's course in radiological physics which, for more than 20 years was a primary vehicle for the training of radiology residents in New England.
-W.-Webster.avif?assetname=Edward+%28Ted%29+W.+Webster.png){kind=link}
Research projects
- Contrast media extravasation in CT and MRI
- Preventing falls in radiology department
- Peer review in radiology
- Management of contrast media reaction with simulation-based training
- Contrast volume reduction in CT
- Radiation dose reduction for dual energy CT
- Lower radiation dose through iterative reconstruction
- Radiation dose research in collaboration with the American College of Radiology Dose Index Registry (ACR DIR)
Abdominal Imaging
Team: Mannudeep K. Kalra
- Protocol optimization for CT
- Use of iterative reconstruction and automatic KV selection techniques for radiation dose reduction in abdominal CT
- Indication based radiation dose reduction for abdominal CT protocols
- Dual energy CT applications in abdomen
- Radiation dose reduction with dual source dual energy CT
Cardiac Imaging
Team: Brian B. Ghoshhajra, Udo Hoffmann, Mannudeep K. Kalra
- Radiation dose reduction with cardiac CT in adult and pediatric CT
- CT protocol optimization and dose reduction for vascular CT
Chest Imaging
Team: Matthew D. Gilman, Jo-Anne O. Shepard, Mannudeep K. Kalra, Subba R. Digumarthy, Alexi Otrakji
- Multi-vendor studies on chest CT under 1mSv radiation doses
- Dual energy CT applications for thoracic imaging
- Radiation dose reduction for dual energy CT of the chest
- Radiation dose reduction for lung cancer screening low dose CT
- Radiation dose reduction studies using big-data-based learning algorithms (using National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) data)
Pediatric Radiology
Team: Michael S. Gee, Mannudeep K. Kalra, Sjirk J. Westra
- Dose-neutral applications of dual energy CT in children
- Contrast volume reduction for pediatric CT
- Optimization of CT protocols for 4D scanning
- Applications of new scanner technology for radiation dose reduction in children
Neuroradiology
Team: Stuart R. Pomerantz, Rajiv Gupta
- Dual energy CT applications for neurological imaging
- Radiation dose reduction for CTA of head and neck vessels
- Diagnostically Accurate Sub-mSv Head CT using iterative reconstruction techniques
- Contrast volume reduction for neurological CT applications
Publications
[1. Singh S, Kalra MK, Hsieh J, et al. Abdominal CT: comparison of adaptive statistical iterative and filtered back projection reconstruction techniques. Radiology. 2010;257(2):373-383. doi:10.1148/radiol.10092212
2. Shaw AT, Yeap BY, Mino-Kenudson M, et al. Clinical features and outcome of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer who harbor EML4-ALK. J Clin Oncol. 2009;27(26):4247-4253. doi:10.1200/JCO.2009.22.6993
3. Maheswaran S, Sequist LV, Nagrath S, et al. Detection of mutations in EGFR in circulating lung-cancer cells. N Engl J Med. 2008;359(4):366-377. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa0800668
4. Gainor JF, Shaw AT, Sequist LV, et al. EGFR Mutations and ALK Rearrangements Are Associated with Low Response Rates to PD-1 Pathway Blockade in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Retrospective Analysis. Clin Cancer Res. 2016;22(18):4585-4593. doi:10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-15-3101
5. Sequist LV, Waltman BA, Dias-Santagata D, et al. Genotypic and histological evolution of lung cancers acquiring resistance to EGFR inhibitors. Sci Transl Med. 2011;3(75):75ra26. doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.3002003
6. Nagrath S, Sequist LV, Maheswaran S, et al. Isolation of rare circulating tumour cells in cancer patients by microchip technology. Nature. 2007;450(7173):1235-1239. doi:10.1038/nature06385
7. Yang Q, Yan P, Zhang Y, et al. Low-Dose CT Image Denoising Using a Generative Adversarial Network With Wasserstein Distance and Perceptual Loss. IEEE Trans Med Imaging. 2018;37(6):1348-1357. doi:10.1109/TMI.2018.2827462
8. Chen H, Zhang Y, Kalra MK, et al. Low-Dose CT With a Residual Encoder-Decoder Convolutional Neural Network. IEEE Trans Med Imaging. 2017;36(12):2524-2535. doi:10.1109/TMI.2017.2715284
9. Kalra MK, Maher MM, Toth TL, et al. Strategies for CT radiation dose optimization. Radiology. 2004;230(3):619-628. doi:10.1148/radiol.2303021726
10. Kalra MK, Maher MM, Toth TL, et al. Techniques and applications of automatic tube current modulation for CT. Radiology. 2004;233(3):649-657. doi:10.1148/radiol.2333031150