About

OSAQA Components:

OSAQA is a collection of several Matlab codes developed for different QA phantoms:

ACR MR
MagIQ
Magphan
Catphan 600

For each phantom there is an individual project, but since many machine QA uses similar method some of the functions were shared by different sub-projects.

The codes were written in Matlab and using the Image Processing Toolbox (with DICOM function library). Therefore, these are the minimum requirement for the code to run properly.

ACR QA code architecture

History of Project:

OSAQA project was originated since early 2013, when we purchased the ACR (American College College) phantom at the Calvary Mater Newcastle Hospital, NSW. The initial aim was to create a Matlab code for the physicist at our department to perform ACR MR QA automatically. Later, more codes were written for various commercial MR QA phantom: MagIQ, and MagPhan. Code was also written for CT and CBCT QA phantom such as CatPhan 600, which is used at our department.

The ACR MR QA phantom was purchased at Calvary Mater Newcastle Hospital early 2013 for our Siemens Skyra 3T MR scanner. The ACR QA code was initially developed based on the first set of images acquired by that scanner. As the code developing, more images were acquired on a fortnight basis providing more resources. At the same time, we used the two months image data to perform a comparison between manual QA measurement and the results from the code. There was no significant difference found between the two measurements except the time reduction. The comparison was presented in the EPSM (Engineering and Physical Sciences in Medicine) 2013 in Perth. A journal paper is also under-construction and waiting for submission.

During the EPSM conference, Gary Liney kindly invited me to visit Liverpool hospital, NSW, where a new Siemens 3T was just installed. They purchased the MagIQ phantom for the scanner QA task. He and Aitang showed me around the hospital and provided me the phantom and images for the development of the MagIQ QA code.

Towards the end of 2013, HMRI (Hunter Medical Research Institute), NSW installed a Siemens MAGNETOM Prisma 3T unit for research purpose. Peter Stanwell showed me the facility and lent me the Magphan phantom they purchased. The images acquired will be used for Magphan QA coding.

Early 2014, physicists at the Calvary Mater Newcastle Hospital, NSW, Michael Barnes, Paul Simpson, Renee Jones and Cameron Stanton, showed me the CBCT QA procedure at our department and provided me the opportunity to develop a QA code for the Catphan 600 phantom. 26th Jun 2014, Tamara Molloy, Michael Barnes and I had a meeting to discuss the possibility and details of developing the code for Catphan 600.

The project has expanded from just ACR MR QA code to several other QA phantoms and not just limited to the MR QA purpose. As my PhD research approaching its end (May 2015), my available time on this project will be restricted. However, I will try to complete all the main functions before my PhD finished.

Author Biography and Contact Details:

Can be found in About Author.