Scanbuddy supports BOLD and localizer scans, with virtual navigator support coming soon! BOLD scans have motion plotting, motion summary statistics, SNR calculation (after 50 volumes) and head coil and table position artifact verification. Localizers just have table position verification.

Scanbuddy uses an AFNI tool called 3dvolreg. After the first volume comes in, each volume is registered to the volume that immediately preceded it. The difference between the two volumes’ position is plotted in the translations and rotations graphs. This approach avoids plotting motion drift that happens throughout a scan and prioritizes notifying users of unusual spikes in motion.

Our SNR calculated is based on the approach described here:

Fariello, G. R., Petrov, V. I., O’Keefe, T. M., Coombs, G., & Buckner, R. L. (2014). Automated Functional MRI Quality Assessment. Frontiers in Neuroinformatics, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/conf.fninf.2014.08.00049 

By default, Scanbuddy will check that both the HEA (anterior) and HEP (posterior) receiver channels on the head coil are plugged in and working properly for every BOLD volume. Even when the coil is plugged in correctly, either the HEA or HEP channel can shut off randomly. Scanbuddy catches those errors and notifies the user with an error screen that takes up the entire Scanbuddy display. 

There are instances that the patient table is not calibrated properly (either too high or too low, or the table position is set before the patient is registered.) When that happens the patient’s head will appear high or low in the field of view. Siemens also has a default table position number assigned in the dicom header in this instances that Scanbuddy checks for. If it finds that value, the user is notified with an error message on the Scanbuddy display.

Scanbuddy has only been tested on Siemens systems running XA-30 and XA-60. That being said, the only requirement is that the scanner you are using can have dicom exporting to an external machine enabled. We would love to hear from our GE and Phillips friends about this!