Automated Vendor-Independent Open-Source Quality Assurance Protocol using Pulseq

Motivation: Ensuring comparable performance of MR protocols across vendors and over time duration. Goal(s): To implement an easy-to-use vendor-independent quality control pulse sequences and data analysis routines. Approach: Relying on Pulseq as a vendor-independent MR pulse sequence environment, we implemented the established quality assurance protocols (ACR/fBIRN). Following the image reconstruction from the acquired data, performed either on the scanner or off-line in Gadgetron, images are analyzed by the open-source Matlab pipeline. Results: The proposed protocol has been tested on three 3T Siemens scanners with over a decade difference in the manufacturing date and has been successfully executed on a 3T GE scanner. Impact: The proposed protocol and post-processing scripts allow for easy and streamlined quality assurance, contributing an essential component for Pulseq to become usable in large scale multicenter imaging studies.