Dudley Nicholas J
Radiation Protection & Radiology Physics, United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, Greetwell Road, Lincoln, United Kingdom.
Ultrasound Med Biol. 2019 Jun;45(6):1475-1482. doi: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2019.02.001. Epub 2019 Mar 30.
The ultrasound probe in-air reverberation pattern is used in routine quality assurance. The aim of this project was to assess the in-air reverberation at acceptance, validating the approach using more comprehensive methods. The uniformity of the in-air reverberation was assessed for departures from the expected appearance. Anomalous patterns were referred to the supplier. Examples were further assessed using a FirstCall electronic probe tester and by image quality tests using tissue-mimicking test objects. Our organisation has taken delivery of 233 new probes over 5 y; 13.7% of the probes had anomalous in-air reverberation patterns. Anomalies were dropout (dead element), atypical dropout (no dead element), non-parallel reverberations and non-specific brightness discontinuities. FirstCall and image quality tests provided objective validation, revealing non-uniformities in sensitivity, pulse width, centre frequency and bandwidth. Where the in-air reverberation pattern exhibits unexpected anomalies, probes should not be accepted into clinical use.
超声探头的空气中混响模式用于常规质量保证。本项目的目的是评估验收时的空气中混响情况，使用更全面的方法验证该方法。评估空气中混响的均匀性，以确定是否偏离预期外观。异常模式会反馈给供应商。使用FirstCall电子探头测试仪和使用组织模拟测试对象的图像质量测试对示例进行进一步评估。我们机构在5年期间接收了233个新探头；13.7%的探头具有异常的空气中混响模式。异常情况包括信号丢失（元件损坏）、非典型信号丢失（无元件损坏）、非平行混响和非特异性亮度不连续。FirstCall和图像质量测试提供了客观验证，揭示了灵敏度、脉冲宽度、中心频率和带宽的不均匀性。如果空气中混响模式出现意外异常，探头不应被投入临床使用。
