EMISSION IMAGING SYSTEMS

• Nuclear medicine is that branch of medicine that employs

emission scanning for the
purpose of helping physicians arrive at a proper diagnosis.
the domain of nuclear medicine has grown to include studies
pertaining to
the following:
• The creation and proper utilization of radioactive tracers (or
radiopharmaceuticals) that
can be safely administered into the body.
• The design and application of nuclear instrumentation devices
and systems to detect and
display the activity of these radioactive elements.
• The determination of the relationship between the activity of
the radioactive tracer and
specific physiological processes.
Basic Concepts:
In 1895, when Roentgen announced the discovery of a new type
of penetrating radiation
that he called “x-rays,” he opened a new realm of scientific
inquiry. X-rays are a form of
electromagnetic (EM) energy just like radio waves and light. The
main difference between
x-rays and light or radio waves, however, is in their frequency or
wavelength. Figure 1
shows the EM radiation spectrum. It will be noted that x-rays
typically have a wavelength
from 100 nm to 0.01 nm, which is much shorter than radio or
light waves
Fig 1 .Electromagnetic wave spectrum
 By observing the behavior of
radioactive emissions in a magnetic field, the Curies
discovered that there are three distinct
types of active radiation emitted from radioactive
material. The three, arbitrarily called
alpha, beta, and gamma by Rutherford, are now
known to be (1) alpha (a) particles, which
are positively charged and identical to the nucleus
of the helium atom; (2) beta (b) particles,
which are negatively charged electrons; and (3)
gamma (g) rays, which are pure electromagnetic
radiation with zero mass and charge.
 Alpha (ά) Decay

Alpha particles are ionized helium atoms

moving at a high velocity.
If a nucleus emits an alpha particle, it loses two
protons and two neutrons, thereby reducing
Z by 2 and A by 4. Several naturally occurring heavy
elements undergo such decay. For
example, a parent nucleus emits an alpha
particle, thereby changing to a daughter nucleus
(Thorium). In symbolic form, this process may be
written as
When one element changes into another, as in
alpha decay, the process is called transmutation.
Example1:
Radium, , decays by alpha emission. What is
the daughter element formed?
Solution
The decay can be written symbolically as
where X is the unknown daughter element. Requiring that the
mass numbers and atomic numbers
balance on the two sides of the arrow, we find that the daughter
nucleus must have a mass
number of 222 and an atomic number of 86:

The periodic table shows that the nucleus with an atomic number
of 86 is radon, Rn.
• EXAMPLE
• In Example Problem 1, we showed that the
nucleus undergoes alpha decay to
Calculate the amount of energy liberated in
this decay. Take the mass of
to be 226.025406 amu, that of
to be 222.017574 amu, and that of
to be 4.002603 amu.
 (β,γ) Decay
• When a radioactive nucleus undergoes beta
decay, the daughter nucleus contains the
same number of nucleons as the parent nucleus,
but the atomic number (Z) is increased by 1. A
typical beta decay event is
The –1 indicates that the electron has a charge
whose magnitude is equal to that of the proton
but is negative. The 0 used for the electron’s mass
number indicates that the mass of the electron is
almost zero relative to that of carbon and
nitrogen nuclei
Example
 INSTRUMENTATION AND IMAGING DEVICES
radiation energy can be measured only indirectly—that is, by
measuring some effect caused by the radiation.
The following are some of the various indirect techniques used
to measure radioactivity:
1. Photography. The blackening of film when it is exposed to a
specific type of radiation such
as x-rays (which are the equivalent of gamma rays ).
2. Ionization. The passage of radiation through a volume of gas
established in the probe of
a gas detector produces ion pairs. The function of this type of
detector depends on the
collection of these ion pairs in such a way that they may be
counted. This technique has
been most effective in measuring alpha radiation and least
effective in measuring gamma
radiation.
3. Luminescence. The emission of light not due to
incandescence. Since the flash of light produced by the
bombardment of a certain type of material with
penetrating-type radiation can be detected and
processed.
 MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING
• Magnetic resonance has been applied
successfully to medical imaging of the body
because of its high water content. The hydrogen
atoms in water (H2O) and fat make up
approximately 60 percent of the body by weight.
Because there is a proton in the nucleus
of each hydrogen atom, as the nucleus spins, a
small magnetic field is created.
 MRI is used to examine most of the body,
including the brain, abdomen, heart, large
vessels, bones, as well as soft tissue, joints,
cartilage, muscle, and the head and neck. It is
used for both children and adults and for
detecting cancer pathologies, tumors, and
hemorrhaging.
 Magnetic Fields and Charges

• To understand how MRI works, several relevant

characteristics of magnetic fields are reviewed here, in
particular, the interactions between electrical charges and
magnetic fields.
• Einstein pointed out that it is useful to consider electricity
and electromagnetic fields as aspects of the same energy.
• Four cases will be covered, each one useful for providing
insights into aspects of MRI
• processes. In the first case, a magnetic field is generated
when an alternating current travels
• along a wire. For an long wire, the Biot–Savart law reveals
that a circular or circumferential magnetic field flux is
generated by the current, as shown in Figure 1,
 Magnetic Fields and Charges

Fig (1)Circular magnetic field generated by an electrical current flowing down

an infinitely long wire
 Magnetic Fields and Charges

If the wire is coiled into a circular loop, a magnetic dipole with north and south
poles is
created. As a second case, an equivalent situation is created by a rotating charge, as
shown
in Figure 2. Current I, flowing along an increment of wire dl, in a loop is equivalent
to a
charge q, of mass m, orbiting at a frequency, v. The magnetic dipole moment is the
product
of the equivalent current and area at a large distance r

where the direction of µ is along unit vector ^z according to the right-hand

rule. A vector is a quantity that has a magnitude and a direction; in this case,
a unit vector has a magnitude of one and is directed along the z-axis. If the
mass of the charge is m, the orbital angular momentum is
Magnetic Fields and Charges

Fig 2.Magnetic dipole moment of a charge in a circular

orbit
 Magnetic Fields and Charges
For the third case, where a wire loop of radius d is perpendicular to the x-axis and
where a permanent magnet of strength B0 is whirling about the z-axis at a constant
angular frequency w. The angle between the x-axis and the magnet axis can be
described as Ɵ=wt. Then, Faraday’s law specifies that the voltage created in the
loop by
the spinning magnet can be written in terms of the electric field E around the loop.
The area of the loop is , and its vector is perpendicular to the loop. If the
field rotatingrelative to the x-axis is B0 cos wt and has a direction along vector B,
then according to
Faraday’s law,
 Magnetic Fields and Charges
The voltage picked up from the rotating magnet is sinusoidal and is maximum when
the axis of the magnet is perpendicular to the plane of the loop and is zero when
the axis is parallel.
For the fourth case, a whirling charge is placed in a strong static magnetic field B0,
as shown in Figure 16.30. Here, the action of the field on the charge exerts a force
on the charge described by the Lorentz force equation
 Magnetic Fields and Charges

Fig .Lorentz force on a charge revolving about a static magnetic field. Vectors for
velocity, v, force, F, and magnetic field, B0, are shown at the position of the charge.
The classical angular frequency of the charge can be expressed in terms of the
velocity of the charge and the radius, which can be rewritten from the previous
equation to give

an important equation in MRI for the classical frequency,

which shows that the orbital frequency of the charge is proportional to the
applied magnetic field.