Quality assurance policies are important for monitoring the consistency and reliability of MRRC equipment. We have several QA policies:

• Daily Phantom QC for fMRI - A daily scanner QA scan and analysis pipeline in Flywheel to monitor important EPI scanning metrics.
  • Developed by: Chan Moon, Will Foran
  • Performed by: Technologist Team
• Daily Siemens 64-channel head/neck coil
  • Developer: Siemens
  • Performed by: Technologist Team
• Weekly trigger QA - We test the pulse-to-trigger converter every week to guarantee fMRI experiments will be properly aligned with the scanners.
  • Developed by: Andrew Reineberg
  • Performed by: Technologist Team
  • Method: 1. Open notepad on E-Prime computer, 2. Run sequence named “” in REI-TEST1 protocol, and 3. At end of sequence, use character count in Notepad to ensure 600 triggers were recorded. If fewer than 600 triggers were recorded, immediately inform Chan Moon, Steve Hegedus, and Andrew Reineberg.
• Weekly Helium Level Check
  • Developed by: Adam Cihon and Andrew Reineberg
  • Method: Review He level on scanner. If less than 45%, call Siemens to ask when Air Products will be refilling the scanner.
• Weekly fMRI QA with bullet phantom
  • Developer Claudiu Schirda
  • Performed by: Technologist Team
• Weekly Siemens 32-channel head coil
  • Developed by: Siemens
  • Performed by: Technologist Team