title: Uniformity testing: assessment of a centralized web-based uniformity analysis system.
abstract: Uniformity testing is performed daily to ensure adequate camera performance before clinical use. The aim of this study is to assess the reliability of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center's locally built, centralized, Web-based uniformity analysis system by examining the differences between manufacturer and Web-based National Electrical Manufacturers Association integral uniformity calculations measured in the useful field of view (FOV) and the central FOV.
  
  
  METHODS
  Manufacturer and Web-based integral uniformity calculations measured in the useful FOV and the central FOV were recorded over a 30-d period for 4 cameras from 3 different manufacturers. These data were then statistically analyzed. The differences between the uniformity calculations were computed, in addition to the means and the SDs of these differences for each head of each camera.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a correlation between the manufacturer and Web-based integral uniformity calculations in the useful FOV and the central FOV over the 30-d period. The average differences between the manufacturer and Web-based useful FOV calculations ranged from -0.30 to 0.099, with SD ranging from 0.092 to 0.32. For the central FOV calculations, the average differences ranged from -0.163 to 0.055, with SD ranging from 0.074 to 0.24.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most of the uniformity calculations computed by this centralized Web-based uniformity analysis system are comparable to the manufacturers' calculations, suggesting that this system is reasonably reliable and effective. This finding is important because centralized Web-based uniformity analysis systems are advantageous in that they test camera performance in the same manner regardless of the manufacturer.
authors.affiliation: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, School of Nuclear Medicine Technology, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. meaghan.klempa@gmail.com
authors.forename: Meaghan C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Klempa
mesh_terms: D015902:Gamma Cameras / Q000592:standards*; D020407:Internet; D011786:Quality Control; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013997:Time Factors