title: On replacing the manual measurement of ACR phantom images performed by MRI technologists with an automated measurement approach.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess whether measurements on American College of Radiology (ACR) phantom images performed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technologists as part of a weekly quality control (QC) program could be performed exclusively using an automated system without compromising the integrity of the QC program.
  
  
  METHODS
  ACR phantom images are acquired on 15 MRI scanners at a number of ACR-accredited sites to fulfill requirements of a weekly QC program. MRI technologists routinely perform several measurements on these images. Software routines are also used to perform the measurements. A set of geometry measurements made by technologists over a five week period and those made using software routines were compared to reference-standard measurements made by two MRI physicists.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The geometry measurements performed by software routines had a very high positive correlation (0.92) with the reference-standard measurements. Technologist measurements also had a high positive correlation (0.63), although the correlation was less than for the automated measurements. Bland-Altman analysis revealed overall good agreement between the automated and reference-standard measurements, with the 95% limits of agreement being within ±0.62 mm. Agreement between the technologist and the reference-standard measurements was demonstratively poorer, with 95% limits of agreement being ±1.46 mm. Some of the technologist measurements differed from the reference standard by as much as 2 mm.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The technologists' geometry measurements may be able to be replaced by automated measurement without compromising the weekly QC program required by the ACR.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.|Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Lawrence P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Panych
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.|Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Jr-Yuan George
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Chiou
authors.affiliation: Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.|Department of Imaging, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Vera L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Kimbrell
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bussolari
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.|Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.|Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Robert V
authors.initials: RV
authors.lastname: Mulkern
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D015588:Observer Variation; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011786:Quality Control; D011871:Radiology / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards*; D012016:Reference Values; D059629:Signal-To-Noise Ratio; D012984:Software
keywords: ACR phantom imaging; accreditation; quality assurance; quality control