The Spectronic Medical GRADE phantom and evaluation software provides the ability to accurately assess system related geometrical distortions throughout the full field-of-view of any MRI scanner. Never before has such powerful analysis been provided in a package that allows for daily usage in a routine clinical workflow.

Assessing the geometric integrity of an MRI scanner is of importance in many clinical applications. For instance, in radiotherapy the accuracy of treatment is directly dependent on the geometrical correctness of the images from which the treatment is planned. For this reason, having robust quality assurance procedures to routinely verify the geometry of acquired MR images is essential to any hospital working with such applications.

The GRADE phantom is a light-weight (<10 kg) unit comprising around 1200 spherical markers specifically designed for MRI geometry distortion assessment. GRADE phantoms are customized for each MRI scanner model, to assure that markers are distributed across the full effective field-of-view. The purpose of the GRADE phantom is to allow geometry distortion assessment of the same types of images as used in clinical applications. Thus, GRADE phantoms can be used with virtually any type of MR sequence.

The GRADE evaluation software runs in a secure online cloud solution, which is accessed either through a web interface or through a link client software installed at the hospital. In the latter case MR images are directly sent from the MRI scanner to the link client software through standard DICOM communication, to enable seamless integration into any clinical workflow. MR images are processed by the GRADE evaluation software, which generates a PDF report that is emailed back to the user.