Technical and physical parameters for quality assurance in medical diagnostic radiology: tolerances, limiting values and appropriate measuring methods

The 51 papers presented at the Workshop dealt with a variety of subject areas covering organizational aspects of quality control, parameters of the image-producing system using conventional X-ray equipment or special equipment and techniques, image-recording systems -system analysis as well as image performance, retrieval- viewing conditions, and dosimetry. Increasing attention was given to special techniques such as mammography, computed tomography and digital radiography. Efforts were made to find commonly acceptable tolerances for different measuring methods and instruments and to define or fix limiting values for the most significant parameters. Lively discussions centred on standardizing tolerances and limiting values to maintain a consistently high performance for radiological equipment and image processing. The need for intercomparison of the various quality test methods was stressed, with the aim of production of comparable radiographs without unnecessary exposure of the patient. (author)