WORCESTER STATE COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS MEDICAL SCHOOL (NUCLEAR MEDICINE TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM) COURSE: NUCLEAR MEDICINE INSTRUMENTATION I OFFERED: SPRING, 2000 TIME: TUESDAYS and THURSDAY, 3:00 TO 5:00 P.M. LOCATION: NUCLEAR MEDICINE CONFERENCE ROOM, H2-563 PROFESSOR: MICHAEL A. KING, PhD, H2-577 (Telephone number 508-856-4255) TEXTBOOKS: SORENSON JA, and PHELPS ME: PHYSICS IN NUCLEAR MEDICINE. GRUNE, and STRATTON, 1987 RADIOLOGICAL HEALTH HANDBOOK, USHEW, 197 COURSE OBJECTIVES After completion of the classroom lectures, doing the homework, and taking part in the classroom demonstrations, the student shall be able to: 1. Apply the principles of counting statistics to estimate the average and standard deviation of the counting rate with and without background, estimate the minimum detectable activity, determine the optimal division of counting times, apply the Chi-square test to determine if a counter is operating properly, and apply the t-test to determine if there is a statistically significant difference between two counting rates. 2. Understand the influence of source and detector geometry, attenuation, scatter, resolving time, background, and detector sensitivity on counting efficiency. Also know the difference between, ways of determining, and the way to correct for both paralyzing and non-paralyzing resolving time. 3. Understand the setup, clinical use, and limitations of the uptake probes. 4. Understand the setup, clinical uses, and limitations of rectilinear scanners. Know why a focus, multi-hole, collimator is typically employed with these systems. 5. Be able to draw a block diagram of the components of a gamma camera and understand the design trade-off associated with each component as a function of sensitivity, spatial resolution, and photon energy. 6. Know the various types of collimators used with a gamma camera and how spatial resolution, sensitivity, field of view, and spatial distortion vary for each as a function of distance and photon energy. 7. Know how to test cameras for uniformity, the causes of non-uniformity, and the operation of typical uniformity correction schemes employed by manufacturers. 8.. Know how to test for spatial distortion, spatial resolution, sensitivity, energy resolution, resolving time and the influence of counting rate, and multi-peak energy registration. 9. Understand the concepts of acceptance testing, quality assurance, and quality control. Know what the NEMA standards are and their role in selecting cameras, writing performance specifications, and acceptance testing. 10. Know the advantages and disadvantages of emission tomography over planar imaging. Know the difference between SPECT and PET NUCLEAR MEDICINE TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM COURSE OBJECTIVES Page 2 11. Understand the methods of acquisition of emission profiles, and reconstruction of slices using filtered back-projection for both SPECT and PET. Know why low- pass filters, and attenuation correction are needed. Know the differences between 180 and 360 acquisitions. 12. Understand the need for and how to perform center-of-rotation, uniformity, pixel size, and spatial resolution performance tests. 13. Understand the formation of the latest image, and processing of film required to make the latent image apparent. 14. Understand the concepts of film contrast, film latitude, and speed. 15. Understand the factors which influence radiographic contrast, spatial resolution, and image noise. 16. Be able to convert numbers between different number systems and why binary is the natural number system for use with computers. 17. Understand the difference between hardware and software, and how the different hardware components function together to form a computer. 18. Know how information and software is stored on disks, tapes and in memory. 19. Understand the concepts of machine language, assembly language, higher level language, and Nuclear Medicine Command Language. Know the difference between Command Driven and Memory Driven Command languages. 20. Understand the different types of, and components of, operating systems. 21. Understand how an ADC functions to bring data from a gamma camera into a computer image. Know the different matrix sizes, and how memory, usage, noise, and spatial resolution dictate the selection between these. Know the different types of studies which can be acquired. 22. Understand the operation of a magnetic resonance imaging system. Know the difference between T1 and T2. Know how slice selection is performed. NUCLEAR MEDICINE PHYSICS II COURSE OUTLINE SPRING 2000 TUESDAY -THURSDAY, 3:00 to 5:00 PM DATES TOPICS REFERENCES Jan 18 Review Exam and Solid State Detectors 1: 69-72, 280-283 2: 134-141 3: 223-230 Jan 20, 25, 27 Counting Statistics 1: 115-142 2: 237-249 3: 479-494 6: 337-343, 347-351 Feb 1, 3 Problems in Radiation Detection and Counting Systems 1: 238-275 2: 250-261 3: 204-207 6: 325-331, 352-367 Feb 8 External Radiation Detection and Imaging: Overview, Uptake Probes and Rectilinear Scanners 1: 346-357, 362-383 3: 361-435 4: 171-177, 133-139 Feb 10 EXAM I Feb 15, 17, 22, 24 Gamma Camera--Basic Principles 1: 298-344 3: 231-255 4: 141-155 7: 495-514 12: 1-43 Feb 29 , March 2 Gamma Camera: Performance Characteristics, Quality Assurance, and Acceptance Testing 1: 298-344 3: 255-270, 330-360 6: 372-411 7: 514-550 11: 1-29 12: 46-126 4: 157-170 March 14, 16, 21, 23, 28, 30 Emission Tomography, SPECT and PET 1: 391-451 3: 286-318 5: 130-138 6: 411-425 7: 527-541 8: 329-360 9: 163-176 10: 31-74 11: 30-52 4: 179-190 Nuclear Medicine Physics II Course Outline Spring 2000 Page 2 DATES TOPICS REFERENCES April 4 Image Recording, X-ray Film 3: 426-431 6: 343-347 8: 127-151 April 6 EXAM 2 April 11 Review: Image Quality and Analysis of Imaging Systems 1: 362-390 3: 387-452 4: 171-177 6: 463-470 8: 161-184 April 13, 18, 20, 25 Computers in Nuclear Medicine 1: 452-464 5: 1-95, 193-211 6: 288-324 9: 1-151 10: 1-30 April 27, May 2, 4 Magnetic Resonance Imaging Handout May 9 FINAL EXAM Nuclear Medicine Physics II Course Outline Spring 2000 Page 3 REFERENCES NUCLEAR MEDICINE PHYSICS II 1. Sorenson JA, and Phelps ME: Physics in Nuclear Medicine. Grune and Stratton, 1987. 2. Hendee WR: Radioactive Isotopes in Biological Research. John Wiley, 1973. 3. Rallo FD: Nuclear Medicine Physics, Instrumentation and Agents. C.V. Mosby Co., 1977 4. Chandra R: Introduction Physics of Nuclear Medicine. 4th Edition. Lea, and Febiger, 1992. 5. Lieberman DE: Computer Methods: The Fundamentals of Digital Nuclear Medicine. C.V. Mosby Co., 1977. 6. Early PJ, and Sodee DB: Principles and Practice of Nuclear Medicine. C.V. Mosby Co., 1985. 7. Hine GJ: Instrumentation in Nuclear Medicine. Vol. 1, Academic Press, 1967. 8. Christensen EE, et al; An Introduction to the Physics of Diagnostic Radiology. 2nd Ed. Lea, and Febiger, 1978. 9. Erickson JJ, and Rallo FD: Digital Nuclear Medicine. J.B. Lippincott Co., 1983. 10. Gelfand MJ, and Thomas SR: Effective Use of Computers in Nuclear Medicine. McGraw-Hill, 1988. 11. King MA, Zimmerman RE, and Links JM: Imaging Hardware and Software for Nuclear Medicine. American Institute of Physics, 1988. 12. Simmons GH: The Scintillation Camera. Society of Nuclear Medicine, 1988. 12/20/99