Vitikainen Anne-Mari, Peltonen Juha I, Vartiainen Eija
HUS Medical Imaging Center, Radiology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland; University of Helsinki, Department of Physics, Helsinki, Finland.
HUS Medical Imaging Center, Radiology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland; Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University School of Science, Espoo, Finland.
Ultrasound Med Biol. 2017 Sep;43(9):1930-1937. doi: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2017.05.009. Epub 2017 Jun 17.
The importance of quality assurance (QA) in medical ultrasound (US) has been widely recognized and recommendations concerning technical QA have been published over the years. However, the demonstrated impact of a properly working QA protocol on clinical routine has been scarce. We investigated the transducer write-off causes for a 5-y period in a multi-unit radiology department with an annual average of 230 transducers in demanding diagnostic use. The transducer faults and the initial observers of the faults leading to transducer write-offs were traced and categorized. The most common cause of transducer write-off was an image uniformity problem or element failure. Mechanical faults or excessive leakage current and defects in the lens constituted smaller yet substantial shares. Our results suggest that a properly working routine QA program can detect majority of the faults before they are reported by users.
医学超声（US）中质量保证（QA）的重要性已得到广泛认可，多年来也已发布了有关技术QA的建议。然而，运行良好的QA协议对临床常规的实际影响却很少见。我们调查了一个多科室放射科5年期间的换能器报废原因，该科室每年平均有230个换能器用于高要求的诊断用途。追踪并分类了换能器故障以及导致换能器报废的故障最初发现者。换能器报废的最常见原因是图像均匀性问题或元件故障。机械故障、过大的漏电流以及透镜缺陷占比虽小但也相当可观。我们的结果表明，运行良好的常规QA程序能够在用户报告之前检测出大多数故障。
