Impact on MRI technologist of a PI-QUAL v2 educational program on prostate MRI image quality assessment

• Published in: European journal of radiology Vol. 191; p. 112280
• Main Authors: Curia, Bruno, Bortolotto, Chandra, Brizzi, Leonardo, Santagostini, Simone, Caffù, Luca, Naspro, Richard, Alessandrino, Francesco, Preda, Lorenzo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier B.V 01.10.2025
• Subjects: Image quality assessment; Magnetic resonance imaging; MRI technologists; PI-QUAL v2; Prostate MRI; Radiographer training; Image quality assessment; MRI technologists; Magnetic resonance imaging; PI-QUAL v2; Prostate MRI; Radiographer training
• ISSN: 0720-048X; 1872-7727; 1872-7727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ejrad.2025.112280

[Display omitted] •The PI-QUAL v2 allows objective assessment of image quality with high inter-operator correlation, improving standardization.•The educational lecture administered to participants led to an improvement in the ability to recognize good quality images.•Investing in MRI technologists’ education on PI-QUAL v2 ensures high-quality prostate MRI with a notable clinical impact. The Prostate Imaging Quality scoring system version 2 (PI-QUAL v2) is a new scoring system used to assess the diagnostic quality of prostate magnetic resonance imaging (pMRI). This study investigated the impact of a focused training module on the ability of MRI technologists (MRI-Tech) and MRI-Tech students to evaluate pMRI image quality. Thirty-nine subjects including MRI-Tech students and experienced MRI-Tech with different levels of experience in pMRI participated in the study. The image quality of twenty pMRIs was evaluated before and after a dedicated lecture on pMRI image quality assessment using PI-QUAL v2 score. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves were calculated for each scorer before and after the lecture, stratified by experience, and compared to the PI-QUAL v2 score assigned by a radiologist specialized in pMRI, using DeLong test. A significant improvement in AUC of pMRI image quality assessment was observed: from the baseline (0.31 ± 0.05) to the post-intervention (0.97 ± 0.01), with an improvement of 0.66 (p < 0.001). The ROC curves stratified by experience, demonstrated an improvement of 0.44 [0.50 ± 0.07–0.94 ± 0.01] for II-year MRI-Tech students (p < 0.001), of 0.48 [0.46 ± 0.09–0.94 ± 0.01] for III-year MRI-Tech students (p < 0.032) and 0.60 [0.33 ± 0.10–0.93 ± 0.01] for board-certified MRI-Techs (p < 0.001). The PI-QUAL v2 training module improved the ability of both MRI-Tech students and board-certified MRI-Techs to assess the quality of pMRI images.