RadioGraphics, Vol 14, 129-138, Copyright © 1994 by Radiological Society of North America
Mammography accreditation and equipment performance
GT Barnes and RE Hendrick
Department of Radiology, University of Alabama Hospitals and Clinics, Birmingham 35233.
Not all sites performing mammography produce optimal images at acceptably
low doses. To address this situation, a voluntary accreditation program was
instituted through the American College of Radiology. Each site applying
for accreditation completes a detailed questionnaire about facilities and
equipment, personnel, and quality control. Each unit at each site is
evaluated by a medical physicist for clinical and phantom image quality and
for average glandular dose. Although a site is accredited for 3 years, the
performance of each unit is audited annually. Of 11,162 units for which
accreditation was sought, only 5,856 (68%) passed at the first attempt,
with another 18% passing after reapplication. The major reason for failure
was inadequate clinical images, followed by inadequate phantom images, both
inadequate clinical and phantom images, and inadequate quality control
records. In a performance audit of 20 new units, an average of 5.8 problems
were encountered per unit, the majority of which adversely affected image
quality. These results support the requirement of equipment performance
audits and raise the question of whether similar problems exist in other
areas of medical imaging.
