iaea human health series publications - SEDIM

8. MEDICAL PHYSICIST’S QUALITY CONTROL TESTSTable 10 lists the QC tests to be performed by the medical physicist. In addition to the frequencies outlined inthe table, all tests should be performed at commissioning (i.e. before the equipment is initially used to imagepatients). The tests do not necessarily have to be performed in the order in which they appear in this publication.The preferred order will depend on various factors relating to the mammography facility as well as the medicalphysicist’s preferences, always bearing in mind that there exist tests whose results affect the execution of othertests. In some cases, the medical physicist may also be responsible for performing some of the tests described in thesection on radiographer’s tests (Section 7). Data collection sheets can be found in Annex II and are also available inelectronic format, along with other information relevant to physics testing of digital mammography, on the IAEAweb site at: http://humanhealth.iaea.orgFor many of the tests, it is useful to carry out the analysis of images on a separate computer. For this purpose,it is desirable that test images be exported from the digital mammography system in the DICOM ‘for processing’format. In addition, to facilitate testing of the soft copy and hard copy displays, it is desirable to be able to importtest images to the digital mammography system in a convenient manner.TABLE 10. MEDICAL PHYSICIST’S QUALITY CONTROL TESTSTest Priority a Suggested frequency TolerancesMammography unit assemblyMammography unit assemblyevaluationEAnnually (E)Semi-annually (D)See Section 8.2.1.4CompressionCompression force and thicknessaccuracyEAnnually (E)Semi-annually (D)Powered: 150 to ≤200 N;Manual: ≤300 NSee also Section 8.3.1.4AEC evaluationSite technique factors for SDNR(radiographer baseline)EAt commissioning and afterchanges to AEC softwareNot applicableAEC evaluation E Annually or after changesto AEC softwareSee Section 8.4.2.4Detector performanceBaseline detector performance E At commissioning and afterdetector changeNot applicableDetector response and noise E Annually and after detector service See Section 8.5.2.4Spatial linearity and geometricdistortion of the detectorE Annually and after detector change See Section 8.5.3.4Detector ghosting E Annually and after detector change Ghost image SDNR ≤2.0Detector uniformity andartefact evaluationE Annually and after detector change, etc. See Section 8.5.5.479