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DOC. ID: DXAP2002

REVISION: H
MANUFACTURING PROCEDURES
DATE: 8/24/04
GE Medical Systems WRITTEN BY: Vikram Ray
LUNAR APPROVED ON CO: L11104
TITLE: PRODIGY/ PRODIGY Advance Primary Calibration Procedure

PURPOSE
This procedure describes the method of calibrating the Prodigy/ Prodigy Advance
scanner.

APPLICATION
This procedure applies to all personnel installing or servicing a Prodigy/ Prodigy
Advance where calibration is necessary.

SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
THE X-ray generator produces beam of ionizing radiation. The technician should take
precautions to avoid exposing any part of their body to the beam.

ASSOCIATED MATERIALS
DXAP2000 Prodigy/ Prodigy Advance Installation Procedures.
DXAP2004 Prodigy/ Prodigy Advance Installation Report Form

DEFINITIONS
None.

THEORY
Primary calibration acquisition consists mainly of acquiring count rate data at various
points on a "step-wedge". A step-wedge consists of various thickness’ of aluminum and
Lucite that overlap to form a two dimensional matrix of values. By obtaining count rate
data at each point, the entire X-ray/detection system is characterized in terms of its
response to varying levels of aluminum and Lucite. This is done by creating a transfer
function or “mapping” so to speak, that relates every combination of count rate to an
aluminum / Lucite combination that is “correct” for this count rate.

The primary calibration acquisition software first calculates all low-level corrections on a
per detector basis. This includes:

1) Pileup
2) Spillover
3) Reference count rates

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used or disclosed, either in whole or in part, except as specifically authorized by GE Lunar.
GE Medical DOC ID: DXAP2002 REV: H DATE: 8/24/04 CO: L11104
Systems

(Reference count rates are actually acquired concurrently with the rest of the data)

Note: Pileup and spillover are calculated with the same dialogs that are available on
a stand-alone basis through the tools menu.

After the low–level corrections have been done, the step wedge is sampled at 3mA
and 150 uA. At 3 mA, the tube can only be on for 7 minutes at a time, so there are
cool down periods in between the acquisition periods.

Most of the acquisition parameters are alterable through the Settings dialog,
available through the toolbar. You will need to enter the calibration block and
detector values as prompted. The required values can be found on the respective
object.

PROCEDURE
1. PREPARING THE SCAN TABLE

A. Before attempting Primary Calibration

1. Verify that system power has been on for a minimum of 60 minutes
to allow for the detector to come to thermal equilibrium.
2. Run the peak test by placing the brass spillover piece on top of the
slit in the collimator.
3. Go to Tools/Spectrum/New Spectrum in the Prodigy/ Prodigy
Advance Software, to do this the software must be in service mode.
4. Click on the Peak button; allow the detector to peak.
5. Verify that the peak values are normal for all detectors by
examining the values (D1 through D16) displayed in the table on
the left side of the spectrum display. If any of the peak values are
less than 1400 or more than 3000, contact LUNAR Customer
Support before proceeding.
6. Place the tabletop on the scan table in the correct orientation

2. ACQUIRING THE PRIMARY CALIBARTION

A. Enter the Service Mode of the Prodigy/ Prodigy Advance Software Options
/ User Options Service – Enter Password (Smile ver 1.1 – 2.05, Award
ver 2.1 +)

B. Go to the Tools menu and click on Primary Calibration->New Primary

Calibration
C. Click on the “Start” toolbar button.

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This document contains confidential or proprietary information of Lunar Corp. Neither the document nor the information therein is to be reproduced, distributed,
used or disclosed, either in whole or in part, except as specifically authorized by Lunar Corp.
GE Medical DOC ID: DXAP2002 REV: H DATE: 8/24/04 CO: L11104
Systems

D. Enter the detector number when the software prompts, it can be found on
the compliance label for the detector.
E. Enter the PBM per step, PBM offset (with negative sign when necessary),
Aluminum wedge serial number, and the system number when the
software prompts.
F. Click on OK

Note: Be careful when handling the calibration blocks, dents or dings may
cause variations in the primary calibration results.

G. Set the Daily QA or secondary calibration standard on the standard

silkscreen on the table in the proper orientation (brass down).
H. Take the aluminum step wedge and orient so the steps increase in
thickness TO THE LEFT (Foot of the table).
I. Place the aluminum step wedge snug against the left (foot) side of the QA
standard, with the back edge flush with the back edge of the QA standard.
J. Take the Lucite step wedge and orient so the steps increase in thickness
TOWARD THE BACK OF THE SCAN TABLE.
K. Set the Lucite step wedge on top of the aluminum step wedge, and snug it
against the left side of the QA standard, with the back edge flush with the
back edge of the QA standard (SEE FIGURE 1).
L. Make sure the QA standard has not been moved out of position by steps
B-E.
M. Make sure there are no other objects on the table top – back scatter from
objects on the tabletop may cause the primary calibration to fail

Figure 1: Properly positioned Calibration Blocks

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This document contains confidential or proprietary information of Lunar Corp. Neither the document nor the information therein is to be reproduced, distributed,
used or disclosed, either in whole or in part, except as specifically authorized by Lunar Corp.
GE Medical DOC ID: DXAP2002 REV: H DATE: 8/24/04 CO: L11104
Systems

N. Click on OK
O. The primary calibration will begin.
P. The software will find the exact position of the step wedge. It should
tolerate slight errors in positioning; however, good calibration block
positioning will reduce potential primary calibration failures.
Q. Calibration will commence. It takes approx. 40 minutes.
R. If the primary calibration passes, a pass message is displayed and the
software will ask if you wish to save this calibration. Answer yes.
S. Restart the Prodigy/ Prodigy Advance Software and allow the software to
analyze the primary calibration files.

5. TROUBLESHOOTING

A. The following errors can occur:

Source timeout. There is a watch dog timer in the host software that
will timeout if a pass at 3 mA takes longer than 7 minutes. This is to
prevent burning up the tube. The calibration will be terminated if this
happens. This will occur if the counts decrease dramatically, due to
detector malfunction, shutter malfunction, etc.

Noise spikes. During each acquisition interval (5 sec.) the individual

samples are tested for being out of range more than 5 sigma. If the
source arcs, or the detectors drop out, there will be a retry, and if this
fails, the calibration will abort with an error message.

Did not find Cal Blocks. If the Taus are all essentially 0, and the %
spillover is very high (>3000) the scanner was unable to find the
calibration blocks. Repeat this procedure.

Poor Block Positioning. If the calibration blocks are not positioned

properly the residual values on the calibration report will fail. An
acceptable residual value for a single element should be <0.0175 and
the average residual value should be <0.012. The residual values are
the difference between the measured and the calculated (theoretical)
slope of the plane (count rates graphic) calculated during the primary
calibration.

GENERATED RECORDS
None.

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This document contains confidential or proprietary information of Lunar Corp. Neither the document nor the information therein is to be reproduced, distributed,
used or disclosed, either in whole or in part, except as specifically authorized by Lunar Corp.