Computers and quality control in nuclear medicine

The general topic of computers and nuclear medicine quality control may be approached from two main areas; controlling the quality of computerized studies, and computer applications in general nuclear medicine quality control. Overlap occurs when quality control of computer studies is performed by the computer itself. The uses of computers in record-keeping and in quality control of imaging instrumentation and in vitro studies, including radioimmunoassay, are discussed in this review. Aspects of quality control for computerized clinical cardiovascular, cerebral, and renal studies and emission computed tomography are reviewed, including consideration of difficulties and inaccuracies involved in the studies. Any automatic computer analysis program should incorporate adequate checks and error detection protocols and should illustrate results for verification. Current routine quality control procedures using the computer unfortunately are few. Quality control criteria are needed for camera/computer systems in high count rate clinical applications, and increasing emphasis should be aimed at quality control of those computerized dynamic and function studies in current clinical use. The computer has a valuable potential for nuclear medicine quality control. In vitro and computerized in vivo studies can be analyzed by readily available statistical programs, and variances can be monitored continuously. Computers can calibrate and monitor instrument performance regularly, and can handle managerial and clerical duties such as bookkeeping.