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INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS AND ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE

NUCLEAR MEDICINE SOFTWARE QUALITY GROUP

Minutes of Meeting held at 11.30 on Friday 18th December 2009 in the Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, LondonWC1H 9BD

Present

Dr David Hall

Ms SarahCade

Mr Bob Kenny

Mr Andy Knight

Prof Richard Lawson

Dr Lefteris Livieratos

Dr Kuldip Nijran

  1. Apologies for Absence

Dr Duncan White

2. Matters arising from the Minutes of the Previous Meeting

None.

3.Renography Audit.

KN awaiting comments from Alex Houston and Jari Heikkinen prior to submitting as paper to Nuc Med Comm.

Action KN

4.GFR Audit

Paper is thought to be in press (reference??).

5. Myocardial Perfusion Audit

Letters (via email) have been sent out to RACs and manufacturers. A couple of RAC contacts seem not to be active and some alternative names were discussed at the meeting – LL to attempt these new contacts. It was proposed that we should seek wider coverage via the NM SIG and ‘News’ section of NMC.

The current situation with the website was discussed at this point as it was thought an essential tool for future audit data transfers (although this audit may not rely in this mode of data transfer). See relevant comments under §10.

Action LL

6. Progress with the EF audit

Pilot audit data were circulated among the group members by DH. Some feedback from users was discussed (e.g. issue with gated data by Manchester). Awaiting for MPS audit to progress before sending data out after incorporating feedback from pilot audit.

Action DH

  1. Progress with the SPECT filtering audit

Report circulated prior to the meeting via email by RL. Discussion regarding the number of pixels used for accurate representation of the filter.

Data for internal audit were circulated on CD with allocation of a variety of platforms among group members. It was requested that in order to assist with the data analysis process, the Patient ID will have to be modified if more than one system is assessed by the same user.

Action RL, All

  1. Progress with Gastric Emptying

This item should now move under Future Audits

  1. Future Audits

Discussions included revisiting the cerebral perfusion audit and possibly a DATscan audit (it was noted that for the later other attempts related to multi-centre quantification assessment may exist). No further news on the IAEA renogram software at this time.

  1. Improving the Profile of the Group

As the MPS audit is now out, ways for advertising it were discussed including the IPEM Newsletter or the ‘News’ column of NMC.

Website: Manufacturers initially responded to the group’s call for support by requesting more information however there was no further formal response until the date of the meeting. BK offered to setup an intermediate solution on the Link server using a content editor. It was agreed to go ahead with this option while still pursuing the manufacturers. Regardingthe update of website content SC was to liaise with DW.

Action KN / BK / SC / DW

  1. Regional Audit Co-ordinators

LL to send current list of RACs used for MPS audit to AK for amendment.

Action LL, AK

  1. Data availability on the web

Discussed under previous sections.

  1. Correspondence

Group members (RL, KN) attended ARSAC meeting regarding the potential use of resolution recovery reconstruction software to address shortages of Tc99m. The Group has agreed to assist with the process in a consulting/advisory role. A questionnaire was sent to the manufacturers with the aim of collecting and clarifying information about the use of such software. ARSAC is aiming for a report by September 2010.

  1. Any Other Business

None

  1. Date and Time of the Next Meeting

The next meeting was agreed for the 25thMarch. It was preferable to attempt booking the same venue at Hamilton House as more convenient with transport. Chair of NM SIG to be invited to the meeting.

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