Establish Quality Assurance Programs of Medical Exposures from Mammography and X-Ray Computed Tomography in Taiwan(I)

For radiological diagnostic imaging equipments, under normal conditions, more radiation exposure usually results in better image quality. Therefore clinical exposure techniques are setup to achieve diagnostic purposes with minimal radiation dose to patient and coverage. To ensure normal functioning of the equipment, routine quality assurance (QA) procedures are necessary. However, in Taiwan QA for diagnostic radiology is not widely performed and the methodology is not yet well-understood. Quality assurance procedures and standards for the mammography and x-ray CT are well established in the US and highly referencable for us. For screen/film mammography, they include the Mammography Quality Standard Act (MQSA) and the American College of Radiology (ACR) mammography quality control manual published in 1999. For the digital mammography, they include vendors’ quality control manuals that are approved by the FDA and recommendations from the ACR Digital Mammography Imaging Screen Trial (DMIST) that was published in Med Phys in 2006. For CT, they include the American Association of Physicists in Medicine Report #39 published in 1993, Report #74 published in 2002 and the requirements of ACR CT certification program. However, in Taiwan the medical care system, clinical routines and professional structures are all different than in the US. In addition, the above-mentioned materials do not cover all details on procedures and standards, the proposed study is needed to help the establishment of mammography and CT quality assurance standards in Taiwan. This proposed project plans to accomplish three specific aims in three years: 1. Advance general mammography quality assurance standards and guidance, and provide professional and hands-on trainings. 2. Establish digital mammography quality assurance standards and guidance, and provide professional and hands-on trainings. 3. Establish computed tomography quality assurance standards and guidance, and provide professional and hands-on trainings.

Project ID:PB9803-0058
External Project ID:NSC98-2623-E182-001-NU