MR Image Quality Phantom

The international standard IEC 62464-1 Magnetic resonance equipment for medical imaging – Part 1: Determination of essential image quality parameters contains the basics for MR image quality control and quality assurance testing. The quality of MR images can deteriorate in a slow pace and thus remain unnoticed. Because of possibly inaccurate diagnoses due to inadequate image quality, it is important to continuously monitor the MR equipment. The standard IEC 62464-1 describes the requirements and measurements necessary to determine the quality of the MR images.

The MR Image Quality Phantom was developed by MR:comp conforming to IEC 62464-1. The phantom delivers optimal measurement accuracy while remaining within the requirements of the standard. The phantom was designed both for handling to be straightforward and for duration of the test to be minimal. Also data trend analysis should be able for the MR system user and owner.

With the Image Quality Phantom, the following parameters can be determined:

Signal-to-noise ratio
Uniformity
Slice thickness
Geometric distortion
Spatial resolution
Ghosting artifacts

This project was supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy on the basis of a decision by the German Bundestag, grant # KF3048502BN2.