Program Information
MRI QA
M O'Shea1*, K Huff2*, D Reeve3*, G Jia4*, (1) Univ Pennsylvania, Cherry Hill, NJ, (2) Fusion Physics, LLC, Apollo Beach, Fl, (3) UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, (4) The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
TU-A-103-1 Tuesday 8:00AM - 10:00AM Room: 103MRI QA
ACR Annual Testing Requirements
The ACR MRI accreditation program requires annual testing to be performed by a qualified medical physicist/MR scientist. Two of these tests are Magnetic Field Homogeneity and radiofrequency Coil testing. Unfortunately, these tests are often not well understood by the medical physics community. They are often vendor specific, or require access to service protocols or passwords. In some cases they are cumbersome or impossible to perform on a particular unit.
This session will give the medical physicist a better understanding of the value of these tests and guidance on how to perform them.
Another portion of the annual testing is review of the technologist QA program. This is also subject to misunderstanding. Often the value of an individual test, or the proper procedures for their performance is not well understood. Guidance and recommendations for enhancing the review of the technologist QA program is also addressed in this session.
Learning Objectives:
Identify and understand the B0 homogeneity test tools available on manufactured MRI equipment sold today.
Interpret the homogeneity field test results to ensure the magnet is shimmed properly.
Understand the acquisition and reconstruction of phase maps. Also, identify the pitfalls when analyzing and subtracting phase maps
Understand shimming values and how they relate to the magnetic field homogeneity.
Use of the Bandwidth Difference Methodology to evaluate the magnetic field homogeneity.
Describe different approaches to performing RF coil quality control testing.
Discuss methods of measuring SNR and the influence of acquisition parameters on the results.
Recommend information to include in the coil QC record.
Understand the technologist’s role in the quality control program
Obtain tips about the technologist’s quality control test
Identify common image quality problems of MRI scanners
Understand the importance of efficient communication to Radiologists and Physicist
Understand additional QC tests (MRS, Perfusion, Diffusion, fMRI, ADNI, etc)
Contact Email: