Guideline for Technical Quality Assurance (TQA) of Ultrasound devices (B-Mode) – Version 1.0 (July 2012)

Abstract

The Technical Quality Assurance group was initiated by the EFSUMB Board in 2007 and met firstly in 2008 to discuss and evaluate methods and procedures published for performing technical quality assurance for diagnostic ultrasound devices. It is the aim of this group of experts to advise the EFSUMB Board of effective and efficacious methods for routine use and to make recommendations regarding the technical aspects of EFSUMB by-law 9, parts 11.6. & 11.7. The group's work focused on new developments and related European projects to establish a common guideline. There is a great need of a well established protocol and dedicated processing software for the performance testing of medical ultrasound equipment. The measurements should be user independent as much as physically possible. Only if these goals are achieved in an international (firstly European) context, the optimal quality of ultrasound imaging can be offered and maintained to the medical community. This guideline aims to offer and summarize suitable procedures and evaluation processes to lend support for an optimal Technical Quality Assurance (TQA) scheme. The content of this guideline was presented to the EFSUMB Board of Directors (delegates) and approved by the EFSUMB Executive Board (ExB) at the regular meeting during EUROSON 2012 in Madrid April 2012.

Method for automatic detection of defective ultrasound linear array transducers based on uniformity assessment of clinical images — A case study

“…A quick scan test (including uniformity test) plus a physical and mechanical inspection is recommended to be performed every 3 months for mobile and emergency room systems and every 6 months for others in the report of AAPM Ultrasound Task Group No.1 3. Monthly quick checks that include methods for detection of defective transducers are recommended by EFSUMB Technical Quality Assurance Group25 and IEC TS 62736 24. The method of automatic detection proposed in the present paper is intended to be a complement to normal quality assurance by continuous monitoring.…”

BMUS guidelines for the regular quality assurance testing of ultrasound scanners by sonographers

“…7, 9 The guidelines have been trialled by sonographers in several centres, and their feedback incorporated into the final version.…”

Phantom-based quality assurance measurements in B-mode ultrasound

“…Quality assurance (QA) methods for B-mode ultrasound (US) are often based on phantom studies (1 –8), conventionally performed with manual measurements and visual image analysis (1 –4,6,7). Computer programs for automatic image analysis have also been utilized to increase the objectivity, e.g.…”

“…International standards and recommendations include a range of routine tests with tissue mimicking phantoms (1 –5), which are quite tedious to perform. For cost-effective US quality assurance, the tests should reliably reflect the quality of US scanner.…”

“…For cost-effective US quality assurance, the tests should reliably reflect the quality of US scanner. According to the recent standards and recommendations by the American College of Radiology (ACR) (2), American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM) (3), and Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM) (4), either visual or automatic methods can be used for analysis, while in the guidelines by the European Federation of Societies for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (EFSUMB) (5) only automatic image analysis is recommended.…”