title: Criteria and scheduling of quality control of B-mode and doppler ultrasonography equipment.
abstract: Periodic quality control (QC) for ultrasound scanners checks their overall performance, reducing the risk of inaccurate diagnoses. Data from routine annual QC activity were analyzed to optimize the scheduling and the criteria of further QC programs. Among all the ultrasound scanners (68 transducers) in use at the Regional Medical Department of the Aosta Valley, which are currently tested, 48.6% showed problems, mainly (35.3%) related to defects detectable by physical and mechanical inspection. Nearly two-thirds of these problems impacted QC parameters. Failures were significantly related to the workload and to the "technological level" of the equipment. QC scheduling should therefore include a daily/weekly physical inspection in addition to a more complete, objective and software algorithms-based test, the frequency of which should be tailored on the basis of the equipment characteristics. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Ultrasound, 2012.
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Department, University of Torino, Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Balbis
authors.forename: Teodoro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Meloni
authors.forename: Santi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tofani
authors.forename: Flora
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zenone
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nucera
authors.forename: Caterina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Guiot
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D011786:Quality Control; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000592:standards*; D018608:Ultrasonography, Doppler / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000592:standards