[Intl_DxMedPhys] current MQSA policy on mammo RWS MEE testing

[Colin Paulbeck]

Hi James,

I just went through this as we changed our breast PACS vendor which required a change in the computer tower that all the monitors were plugged into. I treated this situation as a “new installation”, and did monitor testing before the radiologists started viewing images on them. It turned out to be pretty valuable, as some of the monitors weren’t properly set up by our IT team. It was all simple issues, like an issue with improper Windows scaling (should be 100%), or Windows not correctly identifying certain monitors. So even though you’d be reloading the same software, if it’s a fresh OS install, I’d say it’s best practice to treat it as a new installation. You’ll also want to make sure the QA Web (or whichever auto QA program is used for that monitor) was properly installed and the QA tests are all running on their schedule.

I was following the ACR QC Manual for all this. I did look somewhat thoroughly through the MQSA documentation and couldn’t find anything specifically about monitors and video cards. Here’s a screenshot of the relevant section from the ACR Manual.

[cid:image001.png at 01DCC1BD.CA92F2C0]

Colin

________________________________
Colin Paulbeck, PhD, DABR
Diagnostic Medical Physicist
Johns Hopkins Medicine, Baltimore MD
Office: 410-955-4181

From: Intl_dxmedphys_wd_osu_list <intl_dxmedphys_wd_osu_list-bounces at lists.osu.edu> On Behalf Of Jim Tomlinson via Intl_dxmedphys_wd_osu_list
Sent: Tuesday, March 31, 2026 6:02 PM
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Subject: [Intl_DxMedPhys] current MQSA policy on mammo RWS MEE testing


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It’s clear to me that when a mammo RWS image display is replaced, an MEE is required before reading mammograms. But there’s been differing opinions about when the other parts of the RWS are replaced, like the tower/desktop computer. What is
It’s clear to me that when a mammo RWS image display is replaced, an MEE is required before reading mammograms.  But there’s been differing opinions about when the other parts of the RWS are replaced, like the tower/desktop computer.
What is the current MQSA policy on this?  I don’t imagine that the power supply or motherboard would affect the image quality, but are there specific features of video cards that require testing?  What if the computer is replaced and the same software is reloaded?
What policy are most of you following?

James A. Tomlinson, M.S., FACR
Senior Vice President
Diagnostic Radiological Physicist, DABR
Medical Physics Consultants, Inc.
214 E. Huron Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
734.662.3197 (w) 810.571.0319 (c)

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