Assessment of mammography equipment quality in mammography screening facilities in 2007 and 2011 in Poland
Abstract
Introduction. The purpose of this study was to assess whether over the four year period 2007–2011 after the implementation of the quality control program for mammography screening examinations in Poland, the quality of the mammography equipment improved and whether the quality level of basic and advanced tests performed at these facilities increased.
Material and methods. The material for this study comprised control protocols from 2007 and 2011, prepared by the physicists from 16 Regional Coordinating Centres. The control methodology was mostly based on European Union recommendations. In this paper, the results of performing advanced, basic and supervising tests for 293 mammography units in 2007 and 396 in 2011 were compared.
Results. In 2011, the number of facilities with analogue mammography units for which the basic tests were performed incorrectly or not performed at all, decreased in comparison to 2007. There was an increase in the number of facilities with analogue mammography units for which the results of supervising tests were acceptable. In 2011 the maximum and mean values of average glandular dose (AGD) for 4.5 cm thick PMMA phantom decreased. Comparison of the quality control results performed in 2011 for three types of mammography units (analogue, computed radiography and digital radiography) revealed that the computed radiography units fail the tests most often and yield the highest AGD values.
Conclusions. Over the four year period after the implementation of the quality control system for mammography screening in Poland, the quality of the mammography equipment significantly increased, and also the level of basic and advanced tests performed at these polish facilities improved. However, adequate legal regulations for quality control systems for DR and CR units is urgently needed in order to implement a comprehensive and reliable evaluation of all mammography facilities in Poland.