Quality Control for CR, DR and PACS

Quality assurance

plan for the
systematic assessment of the
equipment or department

Quality Control

comprehensive
set of activities that help to monitor
and maintain equipment

Acceptance testing

done when equipment is first installed

Routine Maintenance

one periodically to ensure equipment is performing
optimally

Error maintenance

done when equipment malfunctions and needs to be
repaired.

Continuous quality improvement (CQI)

focuses to improve. the process so that the service is good

Total Quality Management: (TQM)

Encompasses maintenance of equipment, image acquisition and processing standards

what is PACS being evaluated for in QC

1. Image display quality. (on monitor and for film)
2. Processing speed
3. Network transfer speed
4. Integrity of compressed data called back from archives

how. dowe test the monitor?

doing a test on SMPTE and the AAPM TG18-QC test pattern

Electronic Display Device
Performance

The performance of all display
devices must be checked using a
test pattern Monthly.

AAPM test pattern

SMPTE test pattern

what shoudl we be observing in a SMPTE test

color, sharpness, optimal luminance, and noise

how to test if the qulaity images are being maintained?

save images with no compression, lossless compression on a 2:1 ratio, and. a lossy compression. compare to original

routine procedures for CR

cracks or scratches, cleaning, erasure, and reader

DR quality control

uniformity, contrast, spatial accuracy, noise, etc.

Relative Sensitivity Test:

ensures that the CR
reader system sensitivity calibration or DR system
sensitivity are consistent with baseline

Uniformity test

evaluates uniformity of image
brightness across the scanning width (CR) or DR
plate

Uniformity Test Steps

Use a 180 cm SID and 80 kVp and enough mAS to produce 10 mR of
radiation. process IR and examine. should be 10% within eachother

Image noise test

evaluates the image for noise
or artifacts

Erasure test

confirms that the CR plate has been
completely erased or that all previous charges are
removed in DR

what should be done annually

• Response function
• Exposure index
• Dynamic range
• Uniformity
• Spatial resolution
• Contrast detectablilty
• Digital detector residual images
• Phantom dose measurements

Some annual duties may include

• Light field congruence
• AEC testing

• Some of the daily duties include:

• Clean and erase CR plates
• Monitor test pattern