[Intl_DxMedPhys] MRI Annual Coil Testing by Philips FSE

[Bob Kobistek]

Many, many years ago, there was an alternative to the dongle. It was challenge-response. You could log in as Service then access a function that would give you a string of characters. The FSE's laptop had a program that would input that string (the challenge) and generate another string (the response). Entering that response into the scanner computer then unlocked the batch files that you need to run the QC you're referring to. If you couldn't reach your FSE, you could also contact tech support for the code, much like we do now with Siemens. For some unknown reason, that went away. Like you, I started having the FSE provide the dongle, but I do the testing myself. Then I got another client that has no service contract, and Philips wanted to charge the customer around twice what I was charging the customer for just sitting there.  The other customer, the one with the service contract, still provides the dongle at no charge. But we usually schedule the survey so that he can be doing a cath lab PM or other service while I'm using his dongle. The subject of charging for loaning me his dongle never came up.


Robert J. Kobistek, MS, FACR, DABR, MRSE(MRSC(tm))
Medical Physicist
RJK Medical Physics, Inc.
440-463-7879

From: Intl_dxmedphys_wd_osu_list <intl_dxmedphys_wd_osu_list-bounces+bob=rjkmedphys.com at lists.osu.edu> On Behalf Of High, Maynard via Intl_dxmedphys_wd_osu_list
Sent: Tuesday, December 2, 2025 3:44 PM
To: intl_dxmedphys_wd_osu_list at lists.osu.edu
Subject: [Intl_DxMedPhys] MRI Annual Coil Testing by Philips FSE

For at least the past 15 years I have had Philips FSE's annually perform the Philips coil test for every coil using the Philips provided phantoms with the Philips service software. These coil tests can only be run by FSE with a proprietary
For at least the past 15 years I have had Philips FSE's annually  perform the Philips coil test for every coil using the Philips provided phantoms with the Philips service software. These coil tests can only be run by FSE with a proprietary dongle key.  These Philips tests  provide me with a SNR measurement for each coil element along with  the Philips SNR spec for each element. I find this very useful to identify elements with unacceptably low SNR before noticing any obvious decrease in image quality on the ACR Phantom. In addition, if any element is below the Philips spec, the test reports a blaring red FAIL which Philips will act on and replace the coil with no arguments.
We have the highest level service contract and these tests were always performed under the service contract with no extra charge (except for after hours overtime).
Now Philips claims we need to pay extra for this service and is charging us $2280 for one scanner (which extrapolates to $13680/ year for our six scanners).


  *   What is the experience of other sites with Philips MR's?
  *   Anybody have any documentation (from Users or Service Manuals) stating that Philips recommends annual coil testing as part of the manufacturer's PM's?


Maynard High
Westchester Medical Center / NYMC
maynard.high at wmchealth.org<mailto:maynard.high at wmchealth.org>
914-493-1410



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