Initial experience with the installation and quality assurance program of the Philips SRI-100 Digital Portal Imaging...

The Radiotherapy Department at Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital has purchased the first Digital Portal Imaging System (DPIS) in Australia. The DPIS has a demountable armature attached to a Philips SL15 6MV X-ray therapy unit. The SRI-100 captures' images which can then be printed, stored or processed for image enhancement. The component sections of the DPIS are image detection, conversion, processing, control and display. All sections are made up from original equipment manufacturer modules that should provide for ease of access to spare parts and technical support. Computer control is provided from a Compaq 386-SX PC using DOS version 3.3 and a GEM desktop environment. The imaging software is user friendly and provides the operator with a comparatively easy environment in which to write dedicated image processing procedures as the need arises. The standard software provides a large number of image processing routines including filters, statistical functions, grey-scale manipulation and image housekeeping. A daily QA program has been implemented using system software to check camera noise and image saturation, with a monthly imaging QA program using the RMI Portal Film Phantom. The systems strengths and weaknesses are discussed along with suggested hardware and software improvements and upgrades.