Past Working Groups
“Angiographic and fluoroscopic systems - QC protocol”.
The WG operated under Scientific Committee from June 2019 to February 2024. Chair of the WG is Annalisa Trianni (IT) and co chair Andy Rodgers (UK).
The rationale of the WG: There is lack of an harmonized procedure to test angiographic and fluorosopic equipment. Some of the tests proposed still used are out-of-date and meaningless. Manufacturers are organizing a joint effort to produce an IEC standard to test the equipment. It is envisioned that this protocol could prevent the proliferation of other testing protocols with diverse methods of measurement and limiting values. New strategies to evaluate clinical image quality will be investigated and eventually included in the protocol.
Joint Task Group AAPM 282-EFOMP Working Group 'Breast dosimetry for standard and contrast-enhanced mammography and breast tomosynthesis" .
The rationale of the Joint AAPM Task Group 282/EFOMP Working Group Report: Breast dosimetry for standard and contrast-enhanced mammography and breast tomosynthesis WG: development and dissemination of a new model and methology to estimate the breast average glandular dose (AGD)
- A new breast dosimetry method, based on new breast models, has been developed, implemented, and tested.
Joint AAPM Task Group 282/EFOMP Working Group Report
EFOMP “Dosimetry in Nuclear Medicine Therapy Molecular Therapy” - Policy Statement 19
The WG operated under Science Committee from August 2022 to September 2023.
The rationale of the WG: The growing development of Molecular Radiotherapy raises the question of the role and involvement of the Medical Physics Expert in clinical therapeutic nuclear medicine dosimetry. The role and competences of medical physicists and medical physics experts under 2013/59/EURATOM (BSS) was addressed in EFOMP policy statement 16. Yet the specificity of Molecular Radiotherapy calls for a more detailed description of how EFOMP understands and wishes to promote the implementation of the BSS.
EFOMP “Medical Physics Education for the non-physics healthcare professions” - Policy Statement 18
The WG operated under Education and Training Committee from from February 2022 to February 2023.
The rationale of the WG: This working group will work together to publish EFOMP Policy Statement no 18: Medical Physics Education for the non-physics healthcare professions. This policy statement will define the role of the medical physicists in the education of the non-physics healthcare professions (including Medical, Dental professions).
EFOMP policy statement 18: Medical physics education for the non-physics healthcare professions
EFOMP “Breast Tomosynthesis QC Protocol”.
The WG operated under Scientific Committee from 1st April 2019 to 1st January 2023.
The rationale of the WG was to develop a quality control protocol for Digital Breast Tomosynthesis systems. Task of the WG was to incorporate the new breast dosimetry, developed by EFOMP/AAPM breast dosimetry working group and to investigate and potentially incorporate task-based image quality assessment. Unfortunately the latter, task-based methods to asses image quality in DBT, are still in development and were not yet suitable for implementation in a quality control protocol.
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It is the intention of EFOMP to update the protocols every few years taking into consideration the experience gained through their implementation in different settings and the emergence of new techniques employed in DBT systems. Therefore some of the tables in the protocol will be updated periodically. The latest versions of these tables can be found here .
The limiting values on glandular dose for the WG/TG 323 phantom could not be transposed from the previous limiting values for PMMA and PMMA+PE phantoms. These need to be established by measurements on all available DBT equipment and will be added in this table when available.
EFOMP provides links to software of third parties for the convenience of the users of the protocol, but does not guarantee the proper working of the software.
- https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/8jj7865wfn/ (Plugins for QC compliant with the European guidelines and EUREF/EFOMP protocols for digital mammography and digital breast tomosynthesis)
- https://medphys.royalsurrey.nhs.uk/nccpm/?s=tomosynthesisqctools (For extracting planes out of a DBT stack, partial opening of DICOM stack, measuring distortion, z-resolution and flat fielding)
Software to determine glandular dose according to the new AAPM/EFOMP breast dosimetry model can be found here:https://aapm.onlinelibrary.
Test patterns for quality control of the display of images on a workstation can be found at
- https://www.aapm.org/pubs/reports/OR_03_Supplemental/ (Test patterns from AAPM taskgroup 18)
EFOMP "The involvement of Medical Physics Experts in the life cycle of medical devices"- Policy Statement 17.
The WG operated under Professional Matters Committee from 1st of December 2020 to 1st December 2022.
The rationale of the WG: This working group will work together to publish EFOMP Policy Statement no 17: The Involvement of Medical Physics Experts in the life cycle of medical devices. This policy statement will inform healthcare managers and government officials on the many benefits of having MPEs involved in this process and identify some of the key areas where our expertise is invaluable over the life cycle of medical devices from specification, procurement, acceptance testing and ongoing quality assurance.
EFOMP "PET/CT AND PET/MR QC Protocol".
The WG operated under Scientific Committee from 1st February 2020 to 1st February 2022.
The rationale of the WG: The literature on routine Quality Controls in PET/CT scanners is out-of-date or no more valid, especially in the light of the new PET/CT tomographs. The scenario for PET/MRI quality controls is even worse, because of the lack of dedicated quality controls recom-mendations on these hybrid scanners. Thus, there is a demanding need for guidelines that identify a set of routine quality controls to perform on up-to-date PET/CT and PET/MRI scanners. The set of quality controls devised should have the characteristics of being simple and easy to realize. Reference and tolerance values will also be defined. The execution of these QC would guarantee the operation of PET/CT and PET/MRI scanners under optimal conditions ensuring the best per-formance in routine clinical tasks.
EFOMP Protocol for Quality Control in PET/CT and PET/MRI
Joint EFOMP-ESTRO physics committee WG "Core curriculum revision for Medical Physics Experts working in Radiotherapy".
The WG operated from September 2019 to October 2021. EFOMP was represented by the European Matters, Education & Training, Professional Matters and Scientific Committees of EFOMP.
The rationale of the WG is to update the latest core curriculum
Core Curriculum for Medical Physics Experts (MPE) in Radiotherapy (2023)
EFOMP “Artificial Intelligence (AI)”.
The WG operated from June 2019 to April 2021.
The rationale of the WG: Big data and deep learning will profoundly change various areas of professions and research in the future. This will also happen in medicine and medical imaging in particular. Quantitative aspects of data validation, Quality Control and system modelling for the future AI methods are positioned firmly in the field of Medical Physics profession. It is our interest to ensure that our professional education, continuous training and competence will follow this significant global development.
EFOMP “Revision of EFOMP PS14 - Safety of MRI”.
The WG operated from June 2019 to June 2020.
The rationale of the WG was to outline the development of a Safety Management System for MRI units. The Policy Statement can help eliminate or at least minimize accidents or incidents in the magnetic resonance environment and is recommended as a step towards harmonisation of safety of workers, patients, and the general public regarding the use of magnetic resonance imaging systems in diagnostic and interventional procedures.
Joint AAPM Task Group 246 and EFOMP
The rationale of the WG: Estimating Patient Organ Dose with Computed Tomography: A Review of Present Methodology and Required DICOM Information