As you may have heard, I found out on Friday that Lehigh Valley Hospital has terminated my contract and I won't be teaching your class anymore. I'm deeply disappointed. Teaching you had been the high point of my work at the hospital, and I wish I could have finished the semester.
Teaching has always been important for me, and I've applied for a couple of faculty positions at local universities. Normally, I would submit comments from teacher evaluation forms as part of my application, but we won't have time to do that. It would be a great help for me if you could write a paragraph or two about what you think of me as a teacher and email it to me. I don't know if all the students check this blog, so please tell your friends. My email is David dot S dot Graff at gmail dot com.
For today's class, I based my lecture on notes from the Imaging Research Laboratory at the University of Washington. You may find other notes from this course to be useful. You may also want to check out the Hyperphysics page on half life, and the Wikipedia pages on exponential decay , half life, and becquerel. You may also enjoy the Wikipedia page on Marie Curie.
One of the students asked if he could email me with some questions. The answer is, yes of course you can always email me. However, consider posting your question as a comment on this blog! That way, everyone can see the question and my response. If you have a question, its likely your classmates do too.
If you email me a question, unless you ask otherwise, I may post it on this blog if I think that other students can benefit from the question and its response.
Welcome to the class blog for Nuclear Medicine Physics at Lehigh Valley Hospital. This class is taught at Lehigh Valley Hospital for students who are planning to become nuclear medicine technologists.
You may find older postings below. These postings are from last year's class and will be reposted and updated when we come back to the same material this year.
Instructors David S. Graff Ph.D. E-mail: David_S.Graff@lvh.com
“The materials used in this course may include copyright protected materials provided for the personal educational use of the enrolled students and may not be further distributed.” “While the provisions of this syllabus are as accurate and complete as possible, the instructor reserves the right to change any provision herein. Students will be notified of any changes and it is the responsibility of each student to know what changes, if any, have been made to the provisions of this syllabus and to successfully complete the requirements of this course.
GRADING: Homework & Labs: 10% Quizzes: 25% Midterm: 30% Final: 35% MODULE 1 1. Review of basic physics quantities and units of measurement • Definitions and units of measurement of the fundamental physical entities.
2. Atomic {extra-nuclear} and Nuclear Structure • A review of atomic structure and the periodic table of the elements: • Nuclear structure and nomenclature • Isotones, isobars, and isomers • The even - odd rule • The neutron : proton ratio • Nuclear energy - the mass defect and nuclear binding energy MODULE 1 QUIZ
MODULE 2 3. Nuclear transformations {radioactive decay processes} • Decay vs. de-excitation • Alpha decay • Beta minus decay • Beta plus decay • Isomeric transitions – prompt and delayed • Decay schemes MODULE 2 QUIZ
MODULE 3 4. Radioactivity—Law of Decay, Half Life, and Statistics • Disintegration rate as a function of the number of nuclei present • Radioactivity as a function of initial activity and time • Serial decay and the Bateman equation • Secular vs. transient equilibrium MODULE 3 QUIZ
MODULE 4 5. Production of radionuclides • Nuclear reactor products – fission products and neutron activated • Accelerator {cyclotron} products MODULE 4 QUIZ
MODULE 5 6. Ionizing Radiation: Interactions with Matter Part 1: Directly Ionizing • Definition of ionizing radiation • Types and sources of directly ionizing radiation • Linear energy transfer (LET) • The Bragg curve of charged particle interactions • The range of charged particle interaction • Positron interactions and annihilation radiation MODULE 5 QUIZ
MODULE 6 7. Ionizing Radiation: Interactions with Matter Part 2: Indirectly Ionizing • Definition of indirectly ionizing radiation • Properties of electromagnetic radiation • The electromagnetic spectrum and ionizing radiation • Photon interactions with matter • Coherent scatter (σcoh) • Photoelectric effect (τ) • Compton scatter (σs or σa) • Pair production (π) MODULE 6 QUIZ
MODULE 7 8. Ionizing Radiation: Interactions with Matter Part 3: Indirectly Ionizing • Attenuation and shielding • Absorption • Attenuation / absorption coefficients • Total attenuation (absorption) μ = σcoh + τ + σ + π • Mass vs. linear attenuation / absorption coefficient • Mono-energetic photon attenuation / absorption – Ix = Io e-μx • Half-value-layer (HVL) {x= HVL & [Ix / Io] = ½} MODULE 7 QUIZ
MODULE 8 9. External {radionuclide} dosimetry • The exposure rate constant {gamma constant} (Γ) • Exposure (R) to dose (rad) conversion • 0.869 rads / R in air • f-factor for tissue • Factors that determine total radiation dose (external) • Source activity (A) • Time (t) • Distance (d) • Shielding (e-μx) • External exposure calculations • Without shielding R = AΓt / d2 • With shielding R = (AΓt / d2) (e-μx) MODULE 8 QUIZ
MODULE 9 10. Radiation detectors Part I: Gas-filled detectors • Principles (recombination, saturation, proportional, Geiger regions of detector response) • Ionization chambers • Geiger-Muller counters Part II: Scintillation and semiconductor detectors • Scintillation detectors • Solid scintillation detectors: Solid state components, electronics • Gamma-ray spectroscopy • Performance parameters of counting systems (energy resolution, deadtime, detection efficiency) • Special devices: Well counters, thyroid probes MODULE 9 QUIZ
MODULE 10 11. Gamma cameras Part I: Principles of operation • Detector • Collimators • Photomultiplier tubes • X-Y position logic • Digital and solid state digital cameras Part II: Performance parameters • Spatial resolution • Sensitivity • Uniformity • Count rate response MODULE 10 QUIZ
MODULE 11 11. Gamma cameras Part I: Principles of operation • Detector • Collimators • Photomultiplier tubes • X-Y position logic • Digital and solid state digital cameras
MODULE 12 12. Special imaging devices Part I: SPECT • Principles • Data acquisition and image reconstruction • Performance parameters • Hybrid devices (SPECT/CT, PET/CT) Part II: PET • Positron-emitting radionuclides • Detectors (block) • Electronics (coincidence timing windows, time-of-flight analysis circuits) • Data acquisition and image reconstruction • Performance parameters • Hybrid devices (SPECT/CT, PET/CT) MODULE 12 QUIZ
MODULE 13 13. Internal {radiopharmaceutical} dosimetry • Medical Internal Radiation Dose (MIRD) method of calculations • Standardized units and tables • The generalized equation(s) • Parameter definitions and tabulated sources • Accumulative activity determination (~A) in the source organ • Physical, biological, and effective half-times • ~Ai = Ao f Teff [accumulative activity in source organ (i)] • The “S” factor for specific source-target organ sets • Calculating organ doses for multiple source organs • Standard dose tables and factors which modify their values. MODULE 13 QUIZ
I put this at the bottom of the previous post, but you might have missed it.
Some of the material in my lecture is not in the book and won't be on the homework. Here is an additional homework problem to ensure that you understand it:
A radiologist reading an image and searching for skin cancer learns that the patient has a family history of skin cancer. How do you think this will affect her interpretation of a lesion which may or may not be skin cancer? Describe how this knowledge could increase or decrease her sensivity and selectivity and why. Show these changes in an R.O.C. graph.
A radiologist reading an image and searching for skin cancer learns that the patient has a family history of skin cancer. Describe how this knowledge could increase or decrease her sensivity and selectivity and why.
Many of the terms that we use to describe image quality are quite general and can be used to describe the quality of any two-dimensional image, not just those from a gamma camera. The online book The Joy of Visual Perception discusses many of these functions. See especially the chapter on Point and Line spread functions and Modulation Transfer Functions and click through the links.
I will be taking over the class for Dr. Goodman-Mumma. You may use this blog to ask me any questions about the material or the course, and I will respond. Use Comments to ask any questions and check back for an answer.
