When your chairman and director pop their heads into your office and ask if you’re happy in here, it’s usually not a good sign.
Around here, space is at a premium, and someone’s always after the space you’re in. Things are always getting shifted and shuffled around. Our department has a space committee looking at our space and other peoples’ space and seeing what we can re-arrange or annex. Up until now, I didn’t think my space was in anybody’s plans, but now I’m a little worried.
If they give me some bigger space, I think I wouldn’t mind. But I don’t think I could fit into a much smaller space.
The last gamma camera
At long last, almost 3 years after the initial purchase, our final gamma camera has been delivered and installed. Joining our department is a new Philips/Adac Argus Epic single head gamma camera which will do a good portion of our routine and planar imaging, particularly for patients coming down in hospital beds.
Tomorrow I should be able to get in and do the acceptance testing on the unit. Looking forward to it. It’s been a while since I’ve done anything on an Argus. Should be pretty easy this time. Only two sets of collimators and one head to do.
Nifty new equipment
Today I get to mess around with our newest cath lab acquisition. Actually I did some initial messing with it doing the acceptance testing earlier this month, but now I get to play and have some geeky medical physicist fun with it.
It’s a fairly unique (for the US) system and very cutting edge. As far as I’ve been told, it’s the first system to be installed in the US. A Siemens Axiom Artis with a couple of really large magnets from Stereotaxis used for steering a sepcially designed catheter guide wire through the arteries of the heart.
The x-ray system itself is the first flat panel fluoroscopy unit I’ve laid my hands on for testing. These things are impressively small and compact. Image quality and performance was ok, but not stunning. Noticed some pixellation getting to the smaller mag modes, but nothing severe.
My AAPM homework
My assignment for the AAPM task group I’m on is to write a background blurb on the effect of reconstruction filters on CT images.
It’s always hard for me to get started when it comes to writing stuff like this, or writing papers. Where to begin, what to talk about, how to organize it… Once I can get started, I’m usually OK though. Getting started is the hard part.
So far, my plan is to have a brief overview of the image reconstruction algorithm, emphasizing the filter. Then a discussion on different classes of filters along with how they affect the image.
Oops, much work to do
Ooops, with the holidays and last minute rush to get stuff done in December, the AAPM CT Noise Metric TG task I volunteered for completely slipped my mind. Much research and writing to do now before the end of the month.