• SIGNA™ Hero 3.0T Service Methods
  • 5852800-8EN Revision 1.0
  • Object ID: 00000018WIA30A14510GYZ
  • Topic ID: id_2004509 Version: 5.9
  • Date: Dec 30, 2021 7:28:32 PM

Running the fMRI Quality Assurance (QA) tool

The fMRI Quality Assurance (QA) Tool assesses the stability of the MR system.

Prerequisites

Personnel requirements
Required personsPreliminary requirementsProcedureFinalization
15 minutes15 minutes-
Tools and test equipment
ItemQuantityPart numberManufacturer
Head TLT Sphere for 3.0T (Pink Solution)12359877-
Head TLT Phantom Positioner FOR KHNU15554484-
MRS Phantom without the Loader12152220-
AGAR Phantom1Site-specific; no GE part number-
3.0T 48-Channel Head Coil1
  • Anterior Coil: 5765217
  • Posterior Coil: 5758122
-
3.0T 48-Channel Head Coil non-MEMS 1
  • Anterior Coil: 5841002
  • Posterior Coil: 5841000
-
TDI Head Neck Array (HNA)15495343-
Required conditions
To ensure consistent results, the patient fan must be ON whenever you run this tool.
Safety

Before working in any GE Healthcare MR suite or performing any GE Healthcare service procedure, you must:

  • Have read and understood all hazard conditions and safety requirements in the latest revision of the GE Healthcare MR Service Safety Manual (5452735).
  • Have successfully completed all relevant GE Healthcare Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) courses (or for non-GE employees, equivalent workplace training courses).
  • Comply with all site-specific training and workplace safety requirements.

If you have any safety concerns at any time, do not begin work or immediately stop work and move to a safe location. Immediately contact your supervisor or site safety officer for instructions on how to proceed.

About this task

The fMRI Quality Assurance (QA) tool measures, analyzes, plots, and reports data about long-term image temporal stability of the scanner in conformance with the fBIRN consortium. It also shows background noise, peak-to-peak stability, signal drift, mean ghost, mean ghost drift, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), signal-to-fluctuation-noise ratio (SFNR), and Weiskoff stability.
Important: The fMRI QA tool will only function when BrainWave is active.

The tool runs the procedure on a 17 cm spherical phantom (TLT head, MRS, or agar) for an extended period and calculates statistics from the resulting images. These statistics provide an assessment of the system’s stability. When the stability is poor, the statistics can be used to locate the root cause. The tool can also be run routinely to monitor system stability. There are no pass/fail criteria or specifications for this test. Work with the site to identify if the results are within their tolerances.

The fMRI QA Tool can be run in two modes: Basic and Expert. Basic mode does automatic acquisition using fBIRN protocol, analyzes the images, reports results, and archives the results without user intervention. Expert mode provides more user interaction, where the user can load an fMRI QA protocol matching the system configuration (wide or non-wide), load and view images, do customizable stability and ghosting analysis, archive data, and view protocol details. Tasks for both modes are included in this procedure.

There is no need to run a three-plane localizer before scanning, because the tool automatically does a phantom centering check. The tool also has a built-in wait time to let the phantom settle before scanning.

Procedure

  1. Note: The agar phantom is recommended if it is available. If not, use the MRS or head TLT phantom. Set the foam positioner in the center of the head coil to hold the phantom in place.
    Put the Agar, TLT, or MRS phantom in the center of the foam positioner in the head coil.
  2. Landmark on the center of the phantom and advance to scan.
  3. Turn the patient fan ON.
Please choose from the following: