Scanner upgrades due to software and hardware changes are an inevitable part of MR research and, without quality assurance protocols, can jeopardize studies. We used two standardized phantoms to evaluate change in T1 relaxation time and ADC measurements on a system that underwent an ‘everything but the magnet’ upgrade. Post-upgrade, the ADC measurements are comparable or better than the pre-upgrade measurements, while T1 measurements (VFA and IR) are affected by the upgrade. Upgrades can have unintended consequences, and we recommend the development of standardized quality assurance protocols that test not only contrast, but also quantitative measurements to identify variations and enable corrections.
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