Evaluation of the ACR MRI phantom for quality assurance tests of 1.5 T MRI scanners in Estonian hospitals

Abstract

Since its discovery, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been one of the main methods of imaging in radiology. So far, there are not many national or international guidelines for MRI quality assurance compared to imaging methods that are using ionizing radiation. American College of Radiology (ACR) has an accreditation program that includes a standardized image quality measurement protocol and a phantom. Seven important assessments of MRI image quality are included with acceptance criteria. The aim of this study was to determine whether using the ACR MRI phantom would be a suitable quality assurance method for MRI systems in Estonia. In order to determine if the ACR MRI phantom would be a suitable quality assurance method for MRI systems in Estonia, six MRI scanners were tested using the ACR MRI accreditation program phantom and method. Information about the image quality was obtained and 33% of the MRI scanners passed all seven assessments. In conclusion, the ACR MRI phantom is a suitable test body for some of the MRI scanners in Estonia and should be considered to be used for regular quality testing. Due to the fact that in some cases the ACR MRI phantom did not fit into the head coil, using the ACR MRI phantom cannot be nationally required and other quality assurance phantoms should also be assessed. Adding signal-to-noise ratio assessment to seven assessment criteria, provided by ACR quality assurance manual, and developing an automated ACR quality assurance procedure would make quality assurance with ACR MRI phantom more beneficial.