Radiation Protection Service, Velindre Cancer Centre, Velindre Road, Whitchurch CF14 2TL, Wales, UK.
National Coordinating Centre for the Physics in Mammography (NCCPM), Level B, St Luke's Wing, Royal Surrey County Hospital, Guildford GU2 7XX, UK.
Phys Med. 2022 Jun;98:113-121. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmp.2022.04.015. Epub 2022 May 6.
To investigate the relationship between age of mammographic x-ray equipment, and number of reported faults and related consequences.
A centralised online fault reporting database is used by all UK breast screening programmes to collate faults with mammography equipment. Data on faults occurring in 2018 and 2019 for digital x-ray imaging systems were analysed. The effect of the age of mammography systems on the number of equipment faults, and the consequences of these faults was examined. The number of days downtime, number of cancelled appointments, number of repeated images, and number of recalled participants were used to quantify the severity of faults.
This analysis covers a two year period and includes 4271 faults and 522 individual x-ray sets. On average, an x-ray set was 6.1 years old at the time when a fault occurred. 77% of x-ray sets experienced five of fewer annual faults. X-ray sets of nine years old had the highest average number of annual faults. Systems of ten years old had the highest average number of days downtime per year, and the highest average number of cancellations per year. The indicated primary use of 48% of the x-ray sets included in this analysis was screening, but a disproportionate 87% of cancelled appointments occurred due to faults on these units compared to those used primarily for assessment, or for a mixture of assessment and screening.
Information from this unique dataset can be used to support guidance on equipment replacement programmes for mammographic x-ray sets.
研究乳腺 X 射线设备的使用年限与故障报告数量及其相关后果之间的关系。
英国所有乳腺筛查项目均使用集中式在线故障报告数据库来汇总乳腺 X 射线设备的故障情况。对 2018 年和 2019 年数字 X 射线成像系统的故障数据进行了分析。考察了乳腺 X 射线设备的使用年限对设备故障数量及其后果的影响。设备停机天数、取消预约数、重复成像数和召回参与者数被用来量化故障的严重程度。
本分析涵盖了两年的时间，共涉及 4271 次故障和 522 台独立 X 射线机。平均而言，X 射线机在发生故障时的使用年限为 6.1 年。77%的 X 射线机每年发生 5 次以下故障。使用年限为 9 年的 X 射线机每年的平均故障次数最多。使用年限为 10 年的 X 射线机每年的平均停机天数和每年的平均取消预约数最高。本分析中包含的 X 射线机的主要用途为筛查，占 48%，但这些设备的故障导致取消预约数占比过高，达 87%，而主要用于评估或评估和筛查混合用途的 X 射线机的取消预约数占比仅为 13%。
该独特数据集的信息可用于为乳腺 X 射线设备的更换计划提供支持。
