Kodak DryView 8300 Service Bulletins page 110

SERVICE BULLETIN
Health Imaging Products
Eastman Kodak Company, Health Imaging, Rochester, NY 14650
SERVICE BULLETIN NO. 34 SEPTEMBER 2002
1437 and 1439 Kodak DryView 8600/8610 LASER IMAGER
Responding to Concerns About Subtle Artifacts
Purpose
The purpose of this service bulletin is to communicate how to respond to customers who may have questions
about subtle artifacts that may occur on films printed with either of these IMAGERS. While the following
information should not be given directly to the customer, it should be used to help the FE understand that the
position of Kodak agrees with guidelines established by the American College of Radiology (ACR).
Response
The QC tests and procedures for full field digital mammography hardcopy films are not defined by ACR or
Mammography Quality Standards Act (MQSA) at this time.
The FDA's position is to follow recommendations of Kodak until a formal process is in place.
The most appropriate procedure is to follow the one for analog mammography films as outlined in the ACR
Mammography Quality Control Manual. On page 255 the ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) concept
is described:
"Not all artifacts can be totally eliminated. It may be helpful to use the concept of ALARA when attacking
artifacts. If they can be easily eliminated, they should be. If the artifact is difficult or expensive to eliminate
and it is subtle (not mimicking or obscuring clinical information), it may be tolerable. The medical physicist
should consult with the interpreting physician as to whether the artifact is tolerable."
A flat-field gray-out test pattern is the most demanding type of test pattern for viewing certain types of
artifacts. Artifacts, such as a low level of "banding", which is a repeated small density variation down the
ten-inch direction of the film, are typically evident in gray-outs produced by the IMAGER, and they normally
meet our manufacturing release tolerances.
ãEastman Kodak Company, 2002
Pub No. 8E6797