Regular quality control testing of radiographic facilities has been largely ignored throughout the world. However, quality control guidelines (IAEA, United States, European Commission, and other authorities) [1,2,3,4] have demonstrated that effective quality control programs, involving daily or weekly tests, both reduce patient radiation exposure and improve image quality. In IAEA Member States, many departments do not have access to on-site support by a Clinical Qualified Medical Physicist (CQMP) in Diagnostic Radiology, or regular visits by a CQMP may be limited due to lack of personnel...

Remote and Automated QC Remote and automated QC consists of different components and responsibilities, as described in Figure 1. Remote QC focuses on analyzing an entire image rather than using localized simple measurements made manually on the image. It consists of the following major components: local image acquisition, local image verification and artefact analysis, image upload, centralized image analysis and result analysis, reporting and feedback. Automated QC consists of the following major components: local data acquisition, local image verification and artefact analysis, local automated image...

The proposed phantoms have been constructed and are being tested in a number of institutions. Data collection using the ATIAsoftware is allowing for the evaluation of the system performanceand consistency,analysing grey-levelvalues, noise, modulation transfer function,detectabilityindex and theutilization ofvariance mapsfor the evaluation of artefacts. The procedure is efficient and can be easily implemented for most sites. Time for acquiring and analyzing an image is approximately 5 minutes. This time could be further reduced by using an advanced database system to accept the CSV output, automatically log...

The aim of the IAEA publication, described in this paper, is to provide tools and a framework for performing quality control of radiographic and mammographic imaging systems with remote and automated tools. The methods described can facilitate frequent constancy testing without the need of on-site supervision of a CQMP; instead, the QCMP can be involved in the remote supervision of several sites. The tools provided for performing these tests and the proposed methodologies are not intended to replace the need of a CQMP to perform...

Patricia Mora, M.Sc. Full professor, School of Physics, University of Costa Rica. Researcher, Research Center of Atomic, Nuclear and Molecular Sciences (CICANUM), University of Costa Rica. San Jose Costa Rica Cental America Email:[email protected]

[1] WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, (1982) Quality Assurance in Diagnostic Radiology, WHO, Geneva. [2] INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, (2011) Quality Assurance Programme for Screen Film Mammography, Human Health Series No. 17, IAEA, Vienna. [3] SOCIEDAD ESPAÑOLA DE FÍSICA MÉDICA-SOCIEDAD ESPAÑOLA DE PROTECCIÓN RADIOLÓGICA, (2002) Protocolo Español de Control de Calidad en Radiodiagnóstico (Aspectos Técnicos). Edicomplet, 2nd edn, Madrid. [4] INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, (2009) Quality Assurance Programme for Screen Film Mammography, Human Health Series No. 2, IAEA, Vienna. [5] EUREF, European Protocol for the Quality Control...