Basic Physics of Nuclear Medicine

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Basic Physics of Nuclear Medicine/Print version - Wikibooks, open books for an open world
BasicPhysicsofNuclearMedicine/Printversion
Note:currentversionofthisbookcanbefoundathttp://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Basic_Physics_of_Nuclear_Medicine
Atomic&NuclearStructure
Youwillhaveencounteredmuchofwhatwewillcoverhereinyourhighschoolphysics.Wearegoingtoreviewthismaterial againbelowsoastosetthecontextforsubsequentchapters.Thischapterwillalsoprovideyouwithanopportunitytocheck yourunderstandingofthistopic. Thechaptercoversatomicstructure,nuclearstructure,theclassificationofnuclei,bindingenergyandnuclearstability.
AtomicStructure
Theatomisconsideredtobethebasicbuildingblockofallmatter.Simpleatomictheorytellsusthatitconsistsoftwo components:anucleussurroundedbyanelectroncloud.Thesituationcanbeconsideredasbeingsimilarinsomerespectsto planetsorbitingthesun. Fromanelectricalpointofview,thenucleusissaidtobepositivelychargedandtheelectronsnegativelycharged. Fromasizepointofview,theradiusofanatomisabout1010mwhiletheradiusofanucleusisabout1014m,i.e.abouttenthousandtimessmaller.The situationcouldbeviewedassomethinglikeacricketball,representingthenucleus,inthemiddleofasportingarenawiththeelectronsorbitingsomewhere aroundwherethespectatorswouldsit.Thisperspectivetellsusthattheatomshouldbecomposedmainlyofemptyspace.However,thesituationisfarmore complexthanthissimplepictureportraysinthatwemustalsotakeintoaccountthephysicalforceswhichbindtheatomtogether. Chemicalphenomenacanbethoughtofasinteractionsbetweentheelectronsofindividualatoms.Radioactivityontheotherhandcanbethoughtofas changeswhichoccurwithinthenucleiofatoms.
TheNucleus
Asimpledescriptionofthenucleustellsusthatitiscomposedofprotonsandneutrons.Thesetwoparticletypesarecollectivelycalled nucleons,i.e.particles whichinhabitthenucleus. Fromamasspointofviewthemassofaprotonisroughlyequaltothemassofaneutronandeachoftheseisabout2,000timesthemassofanelectron.So mostofthemassofanatomisconcentratedinthesmallregionatitscore. Fromanelectricalpointofviewtheprotonispositivelychargedandtheneutronhasnocharge.Anatomallonitsown(ifthatwerepossibletoachieve!)is electricallyneutral.Thenumberofprotonsinthenucleusofsuchanatommustthereforeequalthenumberofelectronsorbitingthatatom.
ClassificationofNuclei
Theterm AtomicNumberisdefinedinnuclearphysicsasthenumberofprotonsinanucleusandisgiventhesymbol Z.Fromyourchemistryyouwill rememberthatthisnumberalsodefinesthepositionofanelementinthePeriodicTableofElements.
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Theterm MassNumberisdefinedasthenumberofnucleonsinanucleus,thatisthenumberofprotonsplusthenumberofneutrons,andisgiventhe symbol A. Notethatthesymbolshereareabitodd,inthatitwouldpreventsomeconfusioniftheAtomicNumberweregiventhesymbolA,andtheMassNumberwere givenanothersymbol,suchasM,butitsnotasimpleworld! Itispossiblefornucleiofagivenelementtohavethesamenumberofprotonsbutdifferingnumbersofneutrons,thatistohavethesameAtomicNumberbut differentMassNumbers.Suchnucleiarereferredtoas Isotopes.Allelementshaveisotopesandthenumberrangesfromthreeforhydrogentoover30for elementssuchascaesiumandbarium. ChemistryhasarelativelysimplewayofclassifyingthedifferentelementsbytheuseofsymbolssuchasHforhydrogen,Heforheliumandsoon.The classificationschemeusedtoidentifydifferentisotopesisbasedonthisapproachwiththeuseofasuperscriptbeforethechemicalsymboltodenotetheMass NumberalongwithasubscriptbeforethechemicalsymboltodenotetheAtomicNumber.Inotherwordsanisotopeisidentifiedas:
whereXisthechemicalsymboloftheelementAisthe"MassNumber,"(protons+neutrons)Zisthe"AtomicNumber,"(numberidentifyingtheelementon theperiodicchart). Letustakethecaseofhydrogenasanexample.Ithasthreeisotopes: themostcommononeconsistingofasingleprotonorbitedbyoneelectron, asecondisotopeconsistingofanucleuscontainingaprotonandaneutronorbitedbyoneelectron, athirdwhosenucleusconsistsofoneprotonandtwoneutrons,againorbitedbyasingleelectron. Asimpleillustrationoftheseisotopesisshownbelow.Rememberthoughthatthisisasimplifiedillustrationgivenwhatwenotedearlieraboutthesizeofa nucleuscomparedwiththatofanatom.Buttheillustrationisneverthelessusefulforshowinghowisotopesareclassified.
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Thefirstisotopecommonlycalled hydrogenhasaMassNumberof1,anAtomicNumberof1andhenceisidentifiedas:
Thesecondisotopecommonlycalled deuteriumhasaMassNumberof2,anAtomicNumberof1andisidentifiedas:
Thethirdisotopecommonlycalled tritiumisidentifiedas:
Thesameclassificationschemeisusedforallisotopes.Forexample,youshouldnowbeabletofigureoutthattheuraniumisotope,,contains92protons and144neutrons. AfinalpointonclassificationisthatwecanalsorefertoindividualisotopesbygivingthenameoftheelementfollowedbytheMassNumber.Forexample,we canrefertodeuteriumashydrogen2andwecanrefertoasuranium236. Beforeweleavethisclassificationschemeletusfurtherconsiderthedifferencebetweenchemistryandnuclearphysics.Youwillrememberthatthewater moleculeismadeupoftwohydrogenatomsbondedwithanoxygenatom.Theoreticallyifweweretocombineatomsofhydrogenandoxygeninthismanner many,manyofbillionsoftimeswecouldmakeaglassofwater.Wecouldalsomakeourglassofwaterusingdeuteriuminsteadofhydrogen.Thissecond glassofwaterwouldtheoreticallybeverysimilarfromachemicalperspective.However,fromaphysicsperspectiveoursecondglasswouldbeheavierthanthe firstsinceeachdeuteriumnucleusisabouttwicethemassofeachhydrogennucleus.Indeedwatermadeinthisfashioniscalled heavywater.
AtomicMassUnit
Theconventionalunitofmass,thekilogram,isratherlargeforuseindescribingcharacteristicsofnuclei.Forthisreason,aspecialunitcalledtheAtomicMass Unit(amu)isoftenused.Thisunitissometimesdefinedas1/12thofthemassofthestablemostcommonlyoccurringisotopeofcarbon,i.e. 12C.Intermsof grams,1amuisequalto1.66x1024g,thatis,justoveronemillion,million,millionmillionthofagram. Themassesoftheproton,mpandneutron,mnonthisbasisare: mp=1.00783amu and mn=1.00866amu whilethatoftheelectronisjust0.00055amu.
BindingEnergy
Wearenowinapositiontoconsiderthesubjectofnuclearstability.Fromwhatwehavecoveredsofar,wehaveseenthatthenucleusisatinyregioninthe
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Wearenowinapositiontoconsiderthesubjectofnuclearstability.Fromwhatwehavecoveredsofar,wehaveseenthatthenucleusisatinyregioninthe centreofanatomandthatitiscomposedofneutrallyandpositivelychargedparticles.So,inalargenucleussuchasthatofuranium(Z=92)wehavealarge numberofpositivelychargedprotonsconcentratedintoatinyregioninthecentreoftheatom.Anobviousquestionwhicharisesisthatwithallthesepositive chargesincloseproximity,whydoesn'tthenucleusflyapart?Howcananucleusremainasanentitywithsuchelectrostaticrepulsionbetweenthe components?Shouldtheorbitingnegativelychargedelectronsnotattracttheprotonsawayfromtheatomscentre? Letustakethecaseofthehelium4nucleusasanexample.Thisnucleuscontainstwoprotonsandtwoneutronssothatintermsofamuwecanfigureout fromwhatwecoveredearlierthatthe massof2protons=2.01566amu, andthe massof2neutrons=2.01732amu. Thereforewewouldexpectthetotalmassofthenucleustobe4.03298amu. Theexperimentallydeterminedmassofahelium4nucleusisabitlessjust4.00260amu.Inotherwordsthereisadifferenceof0.03038amubetweenwhat wemightexpectasthemassofthisnucleusandwhatweactuallymeasure.Youmightthinkofthisdifferenceasverysmallatjust0.75%.Butrememberthat sincethemassofoneelectronis0.00055amuthedifferenceisactuallyequivalenttothemassofabout55electrons.Thereforeitissignificantenoughto wonderabout. Itispossibletoconsiderthatthismissingmassisconvertedtoenergywhichisusedtoholdthenucleustogetheritisconvertedtoaformofenergycalled BindingEnergy.Youcouldsay,aswithallrelationships,energymustbeexpendedinordertomaintainthem! Likethegramintermsofthemassofnuclei,thecommonunitofenergy,thejouleisrathercumbersomewhenweconsidertheenergyneededtobinda nucleustogether.Theunitusedtoexpressenergiesontheatomicscaleisthe electronvolt,symbol:eV. Oneelectronvoltisdefinedastheamountofenergygainedbyanelectronasitfallsthroughapotentialdifferenceofonevolt.Thisdefinitiononitsownisnot ofgreathelptoushereanditisstatedpurelyforthesakeofcompleteness.Sodonotworryaboutitforthetimebeing.Justappreciatethatitisaunit representingatinyamountofenergywhichisusefulontheatomicscale.Itisabittoosmallinthecaseofbindingenergieshoweverandthemegaelectron volt(MeV)isoftenused. AlbertEinsteinintroducedustotheequivalenceofmass,m,andenergy,E,attheatomiclevelusingthefollowingequation: E=mc2, wherecisthevelocityoflight. Itispossibletoshowthat1amuisequivalentto931.48MeV.Therefore,themassdifferencewediscussedearlierbetweentheexpectedandmeasuredmass ofthehelium4nucleusof0.03038amuisequivalenttoabout28MeV.Thisrepresentsabout7MeVforeachofthefournucleonscontainedinthenucleus.
NuclearStability
Inmoststableisotopesthebindingenergypernucleonliesbetween7and9MeV.Therearetwocompetingforcesinthenuclei,electrostaticrepulsion
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Inmoststableisotopesthebindingenergypernucleonliesbetween7and9MeV.Therearetwocompetingforcesinthenuclei,electrostaticrepulsion betweenprotonsandtheattractivenuclearforcebetweennucleons(protonsandneutrons).Theelectrostaticforceisalongrangeforcethatbecomesmore difficulttocompensateforasmoreprotonsareaddedtothenucleus.Thenuclearforce,whicharisesastheresidualstrongforce(thestrongforcebindsthe quarkstogetherwithinanucleon),isashortrangeforcethatonlyoperatesonaveryshortdistancescale(~1.5fm)asitarisesfromaYukawapotential. (Electromagnetismisalongrangeforceastheforcecarrier,thephoton,ismasslessthenuclearforceisashortrangeforceastheforcecarrier,thepion,is massive).Therefore,largernucleitendtobelessstable,andrequirealargerratioofneutronstoprotons(whichcontributetotheattractivestrongforce,but notthelongrangeelectrostaticrepulsion).ForthelowZnuclidestheratioofneutronstoprotonsisapproximately1,thoughitgraduallyincreasestoabout1.5 forthehigherZnuclidesasshownbelowonthe NuclearStabilityCurve. Inotherwordstocombattheeffectoftheincreaseinelectrostaticrepulsionwhenthenumberofprotonsincreases thenumberofneutronsmustincreasemorerapidlytocontributesufficientenergytobindthenucleustogether. AswenotedearlierthereareanumberofisotopesforeachelementofthePeriodicTable.Ithasbeenfoundthat themoststableisotopeforeachelementhasaspecificnumberofneutronsinitsnucleus.Plottingagraphofthe numberofprotonsagainstthenumberofneutronsforthesestableisotopesgenerateswhatiscalledthe Nuclear StabilityCurve: Notethatthenumberofprotonsequalsthenumberofneutronsforsmallnuclei.Butnoticealsothatthenumberof neutronsincreasesmorerapidlythanthenumberofprotonsasthesizeofthenucleusgetsbiggersoasto maintainthestabilityofthenucleus.Inotherwordsmoreneutronsneedtobetheretocontributetothebinding energyusedtocounteracttheelectrostaticrepulsionbetweentheprotons.
Thenuclearstabilitycurve.
Radioactivity
Thereareabout2,450knownisotopesoftheapproximatelyonehundredelementsinthePeriodicTable.Youcanimaginethesizeofatableofisotopes relativetothatofthePeriodicTable!TheunstableisotopeslieaboveorbelowtheNuclearStabilityCurve.Theseunstableisotopesattempttoreachthe stabilitycurvebysplittingintofragments,inaprocesscalled Fission,orbyemittingparticlesand/orenergyintheformofradiation.Thislatterprocessis called Radioactivity. Itisusefultodwellforafewmomentsonthetermradioactivity.Forexamplewhathasnuclearstabilitytodowithradio?Fromahistoricalperspective rememberthatwhentheseradiationswerediscoveredabout100yearsagowedidnotknowexactlywhatweweredealingwith.WhenpeoplelikeHenri BecquerelandMarieCuriewereworkinginitiallyonthesestrangeemanationsfromcertainnaturalmaterialsitwasthoughtthattheradiationsweresomehow relatedtoanotherphenomenonwhichalsowasnotwellunderstoodatthetimethatofradiocommunication.Itseemsreasonableonthisbasistoappreciate thatsomepeopleconsideredthatthetwophenomenaweresomehowrelatedandhencethatthematerialswhichemittedradiationweretermed radioactive. Weknowtodaythatthetwophenomenaarenotdirectlyrelatedbutweneverthelessholdontothetermradioactivityforhistoricalpurposes.Butitshouldbe quitecleartoyouhavingreachedthisstageofthischapterthatthetermradioactivereferstotheemissionofparticlesand/orenergyfromunstableisotopes. Unstableisotopesforinstancethosethathavetoomanyprotonstoremainastableentityarecalled radioactiveisotopesandcalled radioisotopesfor short.Theterm radionuclideisalsosometimesused. Finallyabout300ofthe2,450oddisotopesmentionedabovearefoundinnature.Therestaremanmade,thatistheyareproducedartificially.These2,150or soartificialisotopeshavebeenmadeduringthelast100yearsorsowithmosthavingbeenmadesincethesecondworldwar. Wewillreturntotheproductionofradioisotopesinalaterchapterofthiswikibookandwillproceedforthetimebeingwithadescriptionofthetypesof radiationemittedbyradioisotopes.
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MultipleChoiceQuestions
Click heretoaccessmultiplechoicequestionsonatomicandnuclearstructure.
ExternalLinks
NovelPeriodicTable(http://www.knovel.com/web/portal/periodic_table)aninteractivetableprovidinginformationabouteachelement. MarieandPierreCurieandtheDiscoveryofPoloniumandRadium(http://nobelprize.org/physics/articles/curie/)anhistoricalessayfromTheNobel Foundation. NaturalRadioactivity(http://www.umich.edu/~radinfo/introduction/natural.htm)anoverviewofradioactivityinnatureincludessectionsonprimordial radionuclides,cosmicradiation,humanproducedradionuclides,aswellasnaturalradioactivityinsoil,intheocean,inthehumanbodyandinbuilding materialsfromtheUniversityofMichiganStudentChapteroftheHealthPhysicsSociety. TheParticleAdventure(http://pdg.web.cern.ch/pdg/particleadventure/index.html)aninteractivetouroftheinnerworkingsoftheatomwhichexplains themoderntoolsphysicistsusetoprobenuclearandsubnuclearmatterandhowphysicistsmeasuretheresultsoftheirexperimentsusingdetectors fromtheParticleDataGroupattheLawrenceBerkeleyNationalLab,USAandmirroredatCERN,Geneva. WebElements(http://www.webelements.com/)anexcellentwebbasedPeriodicTableoftheElementswhichincludesavastarrayofdataabouteach elementoriginallyfromMarkWinterattheUniversityofSheffield,England.
RadioactiveDecay
Wesawinthelastchapterthatradioactivityisaprocessusedbyunstablenucleitoachieveamorestablesituation.Itissaidthatsuchnuclei decayinan attempttoachievestability.So,analternativetitleforthischapteris NuclearDecayProcesses. WealsosawinthepreviouschapterthatwecanusetheNuclearStabilityCurveasameansofdescribingwhatisgoingon.Soasecondalternativetitlefor thischapteris MethodsofGettingontotheNuclearStabilityCurve. Wearegoingtofollowadescriptiveorphenomenologicalapproachtothetopicherebydescribinginafairlysimplefashionwhatisknownabouteachofthe majordecaymechanisms.Onceagainyoumayhavealreadycoveredthismaterialinhighschoolphysics.Butbearwithusbecausethetreatmentherewill helpussetthesceneforsubsequentchapters.
MethodsofRadioactiveDecay
Ratherthanconsideringwhathappenstoindividualnucleiitisperhapseasiertoconsiderahypotheticalnucleusthatcanundergomanyofthemajorformsof radioactivedecay.Thishypotheticalnucleusisshownbelow:
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Ahypotheticalnucleuswhichcanundergomanyformsof radioactivedecay.
Firstlywecanseetwoprotonsandtwoneutronsbeingemittedtogetherinaprocesscalled alphadecay.Secondly,wecanseethataprotoncanreleasea positroninaprocesscalled betaplusdecay,andthataneutroncanemitanelectroninaprocesscalled betaminusdecay.Wecanalsoseeanelectron beingcapturedbyaproton.Thirdlywecanseesomeenergy(aphoton)beingemittedwhichresultsfromaprocesscalled gammadecayaswellasan electronbeingattractedintothenucleusandbeingejectedagain.Finallythereistherathercatastrophicprocesswherethenucleuscracksinhalfcalled spontaneousfission. Wewillnowdescribeeachofthesedecayprocessesinturn.
SpontaneousFission
Thisisaverydestructiveprocesswhichoccursinsomeheavynucleiwhichsplitinto2or3fragmentsplussomeneutrons.Thesefragmentsformnewnuclei whichareusuallyradioactive.Nuclearreactorsexploitthisphenomenonfortheproductionofradioisotopes.Itsalsousedfornuclearpowergenerationandin nuclearweaponry.Theprocessisnotofgreatinteresttoushereandwewillsaynomoreaboutitforthetimebeing.
AlphaDecay
Inthisdecayprocesstwoprotonsandtwoneutronsleavethenucleustogetherinanassemblyknownasan alphaparticle.Notethatanalphaparticleisreally ahelium4nucleus.
Sowhynotcallitaheliumnucleus?Whygiveitanothername?Theanswertothisquestionliesinthehistoryofthediscoveryofradioactivity.Atthetime
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Sowhynotcallitaheliumnucleus?Whygiveitanothername?Theanswertothisquestionliesinthehistoryofthediscoveryofradioactivity.Atthetime whentheseradiationswerediscoveredwedidn'tknowwhattheyreallywere.Wefoundoutthatonetypeoftheseradiationshadadoublepositivechargeand itwasnotuntilsometimelaterthatwelearnedthattheywereinfactnucleiofhelium4.Intheinitialperiodoftheirdiscoverythisformofradiationwasgiven thenamealpharays(andtheothertwowerecalledbetaandgammarays),thesetermsbeingthefirstthreelettersoftheGreekalphabet.Westillcallthis formofradiationbythename alphaparticleforhistoricalpurposes.Callingitbythisnamealsocontributestothespecificjargonofthefieldandleads outsiderstothinkthatthesubjectisquitespecialized! Butnoticethattheradiationreallyconsistsofahelium4nucleusemittedfromanunstablelargernucleus.Thereisnothingstrangeaboutheliumsinceitis quiteanabundantelementonourplanet.Sowhyisthisradiationdangeroustohumans?Theanswertothisquestionlieswiththeenergywithwhichtheyare emittedandthefactthattheyarequitemassiveandhaveadoublepositivecharge.Sowhentheyinteractwithlivingmattertheycancausesubstantial destructiontomoleculeswhichtheyencounterintheirattempttoslowdownandtoattracttwoelectronstobecomeaneutralheliumatom. Anexampleofthisformofdecayoccursintheuranium238nucleus.Theequationwhichrepresentswhatoccursis: + Heretheuranium238nucleusemitsahelium4nucleus(thealphaparticle)andtheparentnucleusbecomesthorium234.NotethattheMassNumberofthe parentnucleushasbeenreducedby4andtheAtomicNumberisreducedby2whichisacharacteristicofalphadecayforanynucleusinwhichitoccurs.
BetaDecay
Therearethreecommonformsofbetadecay: (a)ElectronEmission Certainnucleiwhichhaveanexcessofneutronsmayattempttoreachstabilitybyconvertinganeutronintoaprotonwiththeemissionofanelectron. Theelectroniscalleda betaminusparticletheminusindicatingthattheparticleisnegativelycharged. Wecanrepresentwhatoccursasfollows: n0p++e whereaneutronconvertsintoaprotonandanelectron.Noticethatthetotalelectricalchargeisthesameonbothsidesofthisequation.Wesaythat theelectricchargeisconserved. Wecanconsiderthattheelectroncannotexistinsidethenucleusandthereforeisejected. Onceagainthereisnothingstrangeormysteriousaboutanelectron.Whatisimportantthoughfromaradiationsafetypointofviewistheenergywith whichitisemittedandthechemicaldamageitcancausewhenitinteractswithlivingmatter. Anexampleofthistypeofdecayoccursintheiodine131nucleuswhichdecaysintoxenon131withtheemissionofanelectron,thatis +
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Theelectroniswhatiscalledabetaminusparticle.NotethattheMassNumberintheaboveequationremainsthesameandthattheAtomicNumber increasesby1whichischaracteristicofthistypeofdecay. Youmaybewonderinghowanelectroncanbeproducedinsideanucleusgiventhatthesimpleatomicdescriptionwegaveinthepreviouschapter indicatedthatthenucleusconsistsofprotonsandneutronsonly.Thisisoneofthelimitationsofthesimpletreatmentpresentedsofarandcanbe explainedbyconsideringthatthetwoparticleswhichwecallprotonsandneutronsarethemselvesformedofsmallerparticlescalled quarks.Weare notgoingtoconsidertheseinanywayhereotherthantonotethatsomecombinationsofdifferenttypesofquarkproduceprotonsandanother combinationproducesneutrons.Themessagehereistoappreciatethatasimplepictureisthebestwaytostartinanintroductorytextsuchasthisand thattherealsituationisalotmorecomplexthanwhathasbeendescribed.Thesamecanbesaidaboutthetreatmentofbetadecaygivenaboveaswe willseeinsubsequentchapters. (b)PositronEmission Whenthenumberofprotonsinanucleusistoolargeforthenucleustobestableitmayattempttoreachstabilitybyconvertingaprotonintoaneutron withtheemissionofapositivelychargedelectron. Thatisnotatypographicalerror!Anelectronwithapositivechargealsocalleda positronisemitted.Thepositronisthe betaplusparticle. Thehistoryhereisquiteinteresting.AbrilliantItalianphysicist,EnricoFermidevelopedatheoryofbetadecayandhistheorypredictedthatpositively chargedaswellasnegativelychargedelectronscouldbeemittedbyunstablenuclei.Theseparticlescouldbecalledpiecesofantimatterandtheywere subsequentlydiscoveredbyexperiment.Theydonotexistforverylongastheyquicklycombinewithanormalelectronandthesubsequentreaction called annihilationgivesrisetotheemissionoftwogammarays. Sciencefictionwritershadagreattimefollowingthediscoveryofantimatterandspeculatedalongwithmanyscientiststhatpartsofouruniversemay containnegativelychargedprotonsformingnucleiwhichareorbitedbypositivelychargedelectrons.Butthisistakingustoofarawayfromthetopicat hand! Thereactioninourunstablenucleuswhichcontainsonetoomanyprotonscanberepresentedasfollows: p+n0+e+ Notice,onceagain,thatelectricchargeisconservedoneachsideofthisequation. Anexampleofthistypeofdecayoccursinsodium22whichdecaysintoneon22withtheemissionofapositron: + NotethattheMassNumberremainsthesameandthattheAtomicNumberdecreasesby1. (c)ElectronCapture
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Inthisthirdformofbetadecayaninnerorbitingelectronisattractedintoanunstablenucleuswhereitcombineswithaprotontoformaneutron.The reactioncanberepresentedas: e +p+n0 Thisprocessisalsoknownas KcapturesincetheelectronisoftenattractedfromtheKshelloftheatom. Howdoweknowthataprocesslikethisoccursgiventhatnoradiationisemitted?Inotherwordstheeventoccurswithintheatomitselfandno informationaboutitleavestheatom.Ordoesit?Thesignatureofthistypeofdecaycanbeobtainedfromeffectsintheelectroncloudsurroundingthe nucleuswhenthevacantsiteleftintheKshellisfilledbyanelectronfromanoutershell.Thefillingofthevacancyisassociatedwiththeemissionof anXrayfromtheelectroncloudanditisthisXraywhichprovidesasignatureforthistypeofbetadecay. Thisformofdecaycanalsoberecognisedbytheemissionofgammaraysfromthenewnucleus. Anexampleofthistypeofradioactivedecayoccursiniron55whichdecaysintomanganese55followingthecaptureofanelectron.Thereactioncan berepresentedasfollows: + NotethattheMassNumberonceagainisunchangedinthisformofdecayandthattheAtomicNumberisdecreasedby1.
GammaDecay
Gammadecayinvolvestheemissionofenergyfromanunstablenucleusintheformofelectromagneticradiation. Youshouldrememberfromyourhighschoolphysicsthatelectromagneticradiationisthebiggestphysicalphenomenonwehavesofardiscovered.The radiationcanbecharacterisedintermsofitsfrequency,itswavelengthanditsenergy.Thinkingaboutitintermsoftheenergyoftheradiationwehavevery lowenergyelectromagneticradiationcalled radiowaves, infraredradiationataslightlyhigherenergy, visiblelightatahigherenergystill,then ultra violetradiationandthehigherenergyformsofthisradiationarecalled Xraysand gammarays.Youshouldalsorememberthattheseradiationsformwhat iscalledtheElectromagneticSpectrum.
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BeforeproceedingitisusefultopauseforamomenttoconsiderthedifferencebetweenXraysandgammarays.Thesetwoformsofradiationarehighenergy electromagneticraysandarethereforevirtuallythesame.Thedifferencebetweenthemisnot whattheyconsistofbut wheretheycomefrom.Ingeneralwe cansaythatiftheradiationemergesfromanucleusitiscalledagammarayandifitemergesfromoutsidethenucleusfromtheelectroncloudforexample,it iscalledanXray. Onefinalpointisofrelevancebeforeweconsiderthedifferentformsofgammadecayandthatiswhatsuchahighenergyrayreallyis.Ithasbeenfoundin experimentsthatgammarays(andXraysforthatmatter!)sometimesmanifestthemselvesaswavesandothertimesasparticles.Thiswaveparticleduality canbeexplainedusingtheequivalenceofmassandenergyattheatomiclevel.Whenwedescribeagammarayasawaveithasbeenfoundusefultouse termssuchasfrequencyandwavelengthjustlikeanyotherwave.Inadditionwhenwedescribeagammarayasaparticleweusetermssuchasmassand electriccharge.Furthermorethetermelectromagneticphotonisusedfortheseparticles.Theinterestingfeatureaboutthesephotonshoweveristhatthey haveneithermassnorcharge! Therearetwocommonformsofgammadecay: (a)IsomericTransition Anucleusinanexcitedstatemayreachitsgroundorunexcitedstatebytheemissionofagammaray.
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Anexampleofthistypeofdecayisthatoftechnetium99mwhichbythewayisthemostcommonradioisotopeusedfordiagnosticpurposestodayin medicine.Thereactioncanbeexpressedas: + Hereanucleusoftechnetium99isinanexcitedstate,thatis,ithasexcessenergy.Theexcitedstateinthiscaseiscalleda metastablestateandthe nucleusisthereforecalledtechnetium99m(mformetastable).Theexcitednucleusloosesitsexcessenergybyemittingagammaraytobecome technetium99. (b)InternalConversion Heretheexcessenergyofanexcitednucleusisgiventoanatomicelectron,e.g.aKshellelectron.
DecaySchemes
Decayschemesarewidelyusedtogiveavisualrepresentationofradioactivedecay.Aschemeforarelativelystraightforwarddecayisshownbelow: Thisschemeisforhydrogen3whichdecaystohelium3withahalflifeof12.3yearsthroughtheemissionofabetaminus particlewithanenergyof0.0057MeV. Aschemeforamorecomplicateddecayisthatofcaesium137. Thisisotopecandecaythroughthroughtwobetaminusprocesses.Inonewhichoccursin5%of disintegrationsabetaminusparticleisemittedwithanenergyof1.17MeVtoproducebarium 137.Inthesecondwhichoccursmorefrequently(intheremaining95%ofdisintegrations)a betaminusparticleofenergy0.51MeVisemittedtoproducebarium137minotherwordsabarium137nucleusina metastablestate.Thebarium137mthendecaysviaisomerictransitionwiththeemissionofagammarayofenergy0.662 MeV. Thegeneralmethodusedfordecayschemesisillustratedinthediagramonthe right. Theenergyisplottedontheverticalaxisandatomicnumberonthehorizontalaxisalthoughtheseaxesarerarely displayedinactualschemes.TheisotopefromwhichtheschemeoriginatesisdisplayedatthetopXinthecase above.Thisisotopeisreferredtoasthe parent.Theparentloosesenergywhenitdecaysandhencetheproducts ofthedecayreferredtoas daughtersareplottedatalowerenergylevel. Thediagramillustratesthesituationforcommonformsofradioactivedecay.Alphadecayisillustratedontheleft wherethemassnumberisreducedby4andtheatomicnumberisreducedby2toproducedaughter A.Toitsright theschemeforbetaplusdecayisshowntoproducedaughter B.Thesituationforbetaminusdecayfollowedby gammadecayisshownontherightsideofthediagramwheredaughters Cand Drespectivelyareproduced.
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Click heretoaccessmultiplechoicequestionsonradioactivedecay.
ExternalLinks
BasicsaboutRadiation(http://www.rerf.or.jp/general/whatis_e/index.html)overviewofthedifferenttypesofionisingradiationfromtheRadiation EffectsResearchFoundationacooperativeJapanUnitedStatesResearchOrganizationwhichconductsresearchforpeacefulpurposes. RadiationandLife(http://www.worldnuclear.org/education/ral.htm)fromtheWorldNuclearAssociationwebsite. RadiationandRadioactivity(http://www.umich.edu/~radinfo/introduction/cover.htm)aselfpacedlessondevelopedbytheUniversityofMichigan's StudentChapteroftheHealthPhysicsSociety,withsectionsonradiation,radioactivity,theatom,alpharadiation,betaradiationandgammaradiation.
TheRadioactiveDecayLaw
Wecoveredradioactivedecayfromaphenomenologicalperspectiveinthelastchapter.Inthischapterweconsiderthetopicfromamoregeneralanalytical perspective. Thereasonfordoingthisissothatwecandevelopaformofthinkingwhichwillhelpustounderstandwhatisgoingoninaquantitative,mathematicalsense. Wewillbeintroducedtoconceptssuchasthe DecayConstantandthe HalfLifeaswellasunitsusedforthemeasurementofradioactivity.Youwillalso haveachancetodevelopyourunderstandingbybeingbroughtthroughthreequestionsonthissubject.
Assumptions
Theusualstartingpointinmostformsofanalysisinphysicsistomakesomeassumptionswhichsimplifythesituation.Bysimplifyingthesituationwecan disposeofirrelevanteffectswhichtendtocomplicatemattersbutindoingsowesometimesmakethesituationsosimplethatitbecomesabittooabstract andapparentlyhardtounderstand. Forthisreasonwewilltryheretorelatethesubjectofradioactivedecaytoamorecommonsituationwhichwewilluseasananalogyandhopefullywewillbe abletoovercometheabstractfeatureofthesubjectmatter.Theanalogywewillusehereisthatofmakingpopcorn. Sothinkaboutputtingsomeoilinapot,addingthecorn,heatingthepotonthecookerandwatchingwhathappens.Youmightalsoliketotrythisoutwhile consideringthesituation! Forourradioactivedecaysituationwefirstofallconsiderthatwehaveasamplecontainingalargenumberofradioactivenucleiallofthesamekind.Thisis ourunpoppedcorninthepotforexample. Secondlyweassumethatalloftheradioactivenucleidecaybythesameprocessbeitalpha,betaorgammadecay.Inotherwordsourunpoppedcorngoes popatsomestageduringtheheatingprocess.
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Thirdlytakeafewmomentstoponderonthefactthatwecanonlyreallyconsiderwhatisgoingonfroma statisticalperspective.Ifyoulookatanindividualpieceofcorn,canyoufigureoutwhenitisgoingtopop?Not really.Youcanhoweverfigureoutthatalargenumberofthemwillhavepoppedafteraperiodoftime.Butits rathermoredifficulttofigureoutthesituationforanindividualpieceofcorn.Soinsteadofdealingwithindividual entitiesweconsiderwhathappensonalargerscaleandthisiswherestatisticscomesin.Wecansaythatthe radioactivedecayisastatisticaloneshotprocess,thatiswhenanucleushasdecayeditcannotrepeattheprocess again.Inotherwordswhenapieceofcornhaspoppeditcannotrepeattheprocess.Simple! Inadditionaslongasaradioactivenucleushasnotdecayedtheprobabilityforitdoingsointhenextmoment remainsthesame.Inotherwordsifapieceofcornhasnotpoppedatacertaintimethechanceofitpoppingin thenextsecondisthesameasintheprevioussecond.Thebetsareeven! Letusnotpushthispopcornanalogytoofarthoughinthatweknowthatwecancontroltherateofpoppingbythe heatweapplytothepotforexample.Howeverasfarasourradioactivenucleiareconcernedthereisnothingwe candotocontrolwhatisgoingon.Therateatwhichnucleigopop(or decay,inotherwords)cannotbeinfluenced byheatingupthesample.Norbycoolingitforthatmatterorbyputtingitundergreaterpressures,bychangingthe gravitationalenvironmentbytakingitoutintospaceforinstance,orbychanginganyotheraspectofitsphysical environment.Theonlythingthatdetermineswhetheranindividualnucleuswilldecayseemstobethenucleus itself.Butontheaveragewecansaythatitwilldecayatsomestage.
TheRadioactiveDecayLaw
Letusnowusesomesymbolstoreducetheamountofwritingwehavetodotodescribewhatisgoingonandto availourselvesofsomemathematicaltechniquestosimplifythesituationevenfurtherthanwehavebeenableto dosofar.
Graphofthestabilityofeveryknownnucleus, plottedasZ(numberofprotons)versusN (numberofneutrons).Thecolorcorresponds tothevalueofthehalflifeTwithastrong logscale,sinceitvariesbetween1020and 1020seconds.
LetussaythatinthesampleofradioactivematerialthereareNnucleiwhichhavenotdecayedatacertaintime,t.Sowhathappensinthenextbriefperiodof time?Somenucleiwilldecayforsure.Buthowmany? Onthebasisofourreasoningabovewecansaythatthenumberwhichwilldecaywilldependonoverallnumberofnuclei,N,andalsoonthelengthofthe briefperiodoftime.Inotherwordsthemorenucleitherearethemorewilldecayandthelongerthetimeperiodthemorenucleiwilldecay.Letusdenotethe numberwhichwillhavedecayedas dNandthesmalltimeintervalas dt. Sowehavereasonedthatthenumberofradioactivenucleiwhichwilldecayduringthetimeintervalfromttot+dtmustbeproportionaltoNandtodt.In symbolstherefore:
theminussignindicatingthatNisdecreasing. Turningtheproportionalityinthisequationintoanequalitywecanwrite:
wheretheconstantofproportionality,,iscalledthe DecayConstant.
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DividingacrossbyNwecanrewritethisequationas:
Sothisequationdescribesthesituationforanybrieftimeinterval,dt.Tofindoutwhathappensforallperiodsoftimewesimplyaddupwhathappensineach brieftimeinterval.Inotherwordsweintegratetheaboveequation.Expressingthismoreformallywecansaythatfortheperiodoftimefromt=0toanylater timet,thenumberofradioactivenucleiwilldecreasefromN0toNt,sothat:
Thisfinalexpressionisknownasthe RadioactiveDecayLaw.Ittellsusthatthenumberofradioactivenucleiwilldecreaseinanexponentialfashionwith timewiththerateofdecreasebeingcontrolledbytheDecayConstant. Beforelookingatthisexpressioninfurtherdetailletusreviewthemathematicswhichweusedabove.Firstofallweusedintegralcalculustofigureoutwhat washappeningoveraperiodoftimebyintegratingwhatweknewwouldoccurinabriefintervaloftime.Secondlyweusedacalculusrelationshipthatthe
whereln xrepresentsthenaturallogarithmof x.Andthirdlyweusedthedefinitionoflogarithmsthatwhen
then,
Now,toreturntotheRadioactiveDecayLaw.TheLawtellsusthatthenumberofradioactivenucleiwilldecreasewithtimeinanexponentialfashionwiththe rateofdecreasebeingcontrolledbytheDecayConstant.TheLawisshowningraphicalforminthefigurebelow:
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Thegraphplotsthenumberofradioactivenucleiatanytime, Nt,againsttime, t .Wecanseethatthenumberofradioactivenucleidecreasesfrom N0thatis thenumberat t =0inarapidfashioninitiallyandthenmoreslowlyintheclassicexponentialmanner. TheinfluenceoftheDecayConstantcanbeseeninthefollowingfigure:
Allthreecurveshereareexponentialinnature,onlytheDecayConstantisdifferent.NoticethatwhentheDecayConstanthasalowvaluethecurvedecreases relativelyslowlyandwhentheDecayConstantislargethecurvedecreasesveryquickly. TheDecayConstantischaracteristicofindividualradionuclides.Somelikeuranium238haveasmallvalueandthematerialthereforedecaysquiteslowlyover alongperiodoftime.Othernucleisuchastechnetium99mhavearelativelylargeDecayConstantandtheydecayfarmorequickly. ItisalsopossibletoconsidertheRadioactiveDecayLawfromanotherperspectivebyplottingthelogarithmofNtagainsttime.Inotherwordsfromour analysisabovebyplottingtheexpression:

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intheform
Noticethatthisexpressionissimplyanequationoftheform y= mx+ cwhere m=land c=ln N0.Asaresultitistheequationofastraightlineofslopelas showninthefollowingfigure.Suchaplotissometimesusefulwhenwewishtoconsiderasituationwithoutthecomplicationofthedirectexponential behaviour.
HalfLife
Mostofushavenotbeentaughttothinkinstinctivelyintermsoflogarithmicorexponentialtermseventhoughmanynaturalphenomenadisplayexponential behaviours.Mostoftheformsofthinkingwhichwehavebeentaughtinschoolarebasedonlinearchangesandasaresultitisratherdifficultforustograsp theRadioactiveDecayLawintuitively.Forthisreasonanindicatorisusuallyderivedfromthelawwhichhelpsusthinkmoreclearlyaboutwhatisgoingon. Thisindicatoriscalledthe HalfLifeanditexpressesthelengthoftimeittakesfortheradioactivityofaradioisotopetodecreasebyafactoroftwo.Froma graphicalpointofviewwecansaythatwhen:
thetimetakenistheHalfLife:
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Notethatthehalflifedoesnotexpresshowlongamaterialwillremainradioactivebutsimplythelengthoftimeforitsradioactivitytohalve.Examplesofthe halflivesofsomeradioisotopesaregiveninthefollowingtable.Noticethatsomeofthesehavearelativelyshorthalflife.Thesetendtobetheonesusedfor medicaldiagnosticpurposesbecausetheydonotremainradioactiveforverylongfollowingadministrationtoapatientandhenceresultinarelativelylow radiationdose. Radioisotope HalfLife(approx.)

81mKr 99mTc 131I 51Cr 137Cs 241Am 226Ra 238U
13seconds 6hours 8days 1month 30years 462years 1620years 4.51x109years
Buttheydopresentalogisticalproblemwhenwewishtousethemwhentheremaynotbearadioisotopeproductionfacilitynearby.Forexamplesupposewe wishtouse 99mTcforapatientstudyandthenearestnuclearfacilityformakingthisisotopeis5,000kmaway.TheproductionfacilitycouldbeinSydneyand thepatientcouldbeinPerthforinstance.Aftermakingtheisotopeatthenuclearplantitwouldbedecayingwithahalflifeof6hours.Soweputthematerial onatruckanddriveittoSydneyairport.TheisotopewouldbedecayingasthetrucksitsinSydneytrafficthendecayingstillmoreasitwaitsforaplaneto
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takeittoPerth.ThendecayingmoreasitisflownacrosstoPerthandsoon.Bythetimeitgetstoourpatientitwillhavesubstantiallyreducedinradioactivity possiblytothepointofbeinguselessforthepatient'sinvestigation.Andwhatabouttheproblemifweneededtouse 81mKrinsteadof 99mTcforourpatient? Youwillseeinanotherchapterofthisbookthatlogisticalchallengessuchasthishavegivenrisetoquiteinnovativesolutions.Moreaboutthatlater! Youcanappreciatefromthetableabovethatotherisotopeshaveaverylonghalflives.Forexample 226Rahasahalflifeofover1,500years.Thisisotope hasbeenusedinthepastfortherapeuticapplicationsinmedicine.Thinkaboutthelogisticalproblemshere.Theyobviouslydonotrelatetotransportingthe materialfromthepointofproductiontothepointofuse.Buttheyrelatetohowthematerialiskeptfollowingitsarrivalatthepointofuse.Wemusthavea storagefacilitysothatthematerialcanbekeptsafelyforalongperiodoftime.Butforhowlong?Ageneralruleofthumbforthequantitiesofradioactivity usedinmedicineisthattheradioactivitywillremainsignificantforabout10halflives.Sowewouldhavetohaveasafeenvironmentforstorageofthe 226Ra forabout16,000years!Thisstoragefacilitywouldhavetobesecurefrommanyunforeseeableeventssuchasearthquakes,bombingetc.andbekeptina mannerwhichourchildren's,children'schildrencanunderstand.Averyseriousundertakingindeed!
RelationshipbetweentheDecayConstantandtheHalfLife
OnthebasisoftheaboveyoushouldbeabletoappreciatethatthereisarelationshipbetweentheDecayConstantandtheHalfLife.Forexamplewhenthe DecayConstantissmalltheHalfLifeshouldbelongandcorrespondinglywhentheDecayConstantislargetheHalfLifeshouldbeshort.Butwhatexactlyis thenatureofthisrelationship? WecaneasilyanswerthisquestionbyusingthedefinitionofHalfLifeandapplyingittotheRadioactiveDecayLaw. Onceagainthelawtellsusthatatanytime, t :
andthedefinitionofHalfLifetellsusthat:
when
WecanthereforerewritetheRadioactiveDecayLawbysubstitutingfor Ntand t asfollows:
Therefore
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and
TheselasttwoequationsexpresstherelationshipbetweentheDecayConstantandtheHalfLife.Theyareveryusefulasyouwillseewhensolvingnumerical questionsrelatingtoradioactivityandusuallyformthefirststepinsolvinganumericalproblem.
UnitsofRadioactivity
TheSIormetricunitofradioactivityisnamedafterHenriBecquerel,inhonourofhisdiscoveryofradioactivity,andiscalledthe becquerel withthesymbol Bq.Thebecquerelisdefinedasthequantityofradioactivesubstancethatgivesrisetoadecayrateof1decaypersecond. Inmedicaldiagnosticwork1Bqisarathersmallamountofradioactivity.Indeeditiseasytorememberitsdefinitionifyouthinkofitasa buggerallamountof radioactivity.Forthisreasonthekilobecquerel(kBq)andmegabecquerel(MBq)aremorefrequentlyused. ThetraditionalunitofradioactivityisnamedafterMarieCurieandiscalledthe curie,withthesymbolCi.Thecurieisdefinedastheamountofradioactive substancewhichgivesrisetoadecayrateof3.7x1010decayspersecond.Inotherwords37thousand,milliondecayspersecondwhichasyoumight appreciateisasubstantialamountofradioactivity.Formedicaldiagnosticworkthemillicurie(mCi)andthemicrocurie(Ci)arethereforemorefrequentlyused. Whytwounits?Itinessencelikeallotherunitsofmeasurementdependsonwhatpartoftheworldyouarein.Forexamplethekilometeriswidelyusedin EuropeandAustraliaasaunitofdistanceandthemileisusedintheUSA.SoifyouarereadinganAmericantextbookyouarelikelytofindthecurieusedas theunitofradioactivity,ifyouarereadinganAustralianbookitwillmostlikelyrefertobecquerelsandbothunitsmightbeusedifyouarereadingaEuropean book.Youwillthereforefinditnecessarytoknowandunderstandbothunits.
Click heretoaccessanMCQontheRadioactiveDecayLaw.
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Questions
Threequestionsaregivenbelowtohelpyoudevelopyourunderstandingofthematerialpresentedinthischapter.Thefirstoneisrelativelystraightforward andwillexerciseyourapplicationoftheRadioactiveDecayLawaswellasyourunderstandingoftheconceptofHalfLife.Thesecondquestionisalotmore challengingandwillhelpyourelatetheRadioactiveDecayLawtothenumberofradioactivenucleiwhicharedecayinginasampleofradioactivematerial.The thirdquestionwillhelpyouunderstandtheapproachusedinthesecondquestionbyaskingasimilarquestionfromaslightlydifferentperspective. Question1 (a)Thehalflifeof 99mTcis6hours.Afterhowmuchtimewill1/16thoftheradioisotoperemain? (b)Verifyyouranswerbyanothermeans. Answer: (a)StartingwiththerelationshipweestablishedearlierbetweentheDecayConstantandtheHalfLifewecancalculatetheDecayConstantasfollows:
NowapplyingtheRadioactiveDecayLaw,
wecanrewriteitintheform:
ThequestiontellsusthatN0hasreducedto1/16thofitsvalue,thatis:
Therefore
whichweneedtosolvefort.Onewayofdoingthisisasfollows:
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Soitwilltake24hoursuntil1/16thoftheradioactivityremains. (b)AwayinwhichthisanswercanbeverifiedisbyusingthedefinitionofHalfLife.WearetoldthattheHalfLifeof 99mTcis6hours.Thereforeafter sixhourshalfoftheradioactivityremains. Thereforeafter12hoursaquarterremainsafter18hoursaneighthremainsandafter24hoursonesixteenthremains.Andwearriveatthesame answerasinpart(a).Sowemustberight! Notethatthissecondapproachisusefulifwearedealingwithrelativelysimplesituationswheretheradioactivityishalved,quarteredandsoon.But supposingthequestionaskedhowlongwouldittakefortheradioactivitytodecreasetoatenthofitsinitialvalue.Deductionfromthedefinitionofhalf lifeisrathermoredifficultinthiscaseandthemathematicalapproachusedforpart(a)abovewillyieldtheanswermorereadily. Question2 Findtheradioactivityofa1gsampleof 226Ragiventhat t 1/2:1620yearsandAvogadro'sNumber:6.023x1023. Answer: WecanstarttheanswerlikewedidwithQuestion1(a)bycalculatingtheDecayConstantfromtheHalfLifeusingthefollowingequation:
Notethatthelengthofayearusedinconvertingfrom'peryear'to'persecond'aboveis365.25daystoaccountforleapyears.Inadditionthereasonfor convertingtounitsof'persecond'isbecausetheunitofradioactivityisexpressedasthenumberofnucleidecayingpersecond. Secondlywecancalculatethat1gof 226Racontains:
ThirdlyweneedtoexpresstheRadioactiveDecayLawintermsofthenumberofnucleidecayingperunittime.Wecandothisbydifferentiatingthe equationasfollows:
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Thereasonforexpressingtheresultaboveinabsolutetermsistoremovetheminussigninthatwealreadyknowthatthenumberisdecreasing. Wecannowenterthedatawederivedaboveforand N:
Sotheradioactivityofour1gsampleofradium226isapproximately1Ci. Thisisnotasurprisinganswersincethedefinitionofthe curiewasoriginallyconceivedastheradioactivityof1gofradium226! Question3 Whatistheminimummassof 99mTcthatcanhavearadioactivityof1MBq?Assumethehalflifeis6hoursandthatAvogadro'sNumberis6.023x1023. Answer StartingagainwiththerelationshipbetweentheDecayConstantandtheHalfLife:
Secondlythequestiontellsusthattheradioactivityis1MBq.Thereforesince1MBq=1x106decayspersecond,
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Finallythemassofthesenucleicanbecalculatedasfollows:
Inotherwordsamassofjustoverfivepicogramsof 99mTccanemitonemilliongammarayspersecond.Theresultreinforcesanimportantpointthat youwilllearnaboutradiationprotectionwhichisthatyoushouldtreatradioactivematerialsjustlikeyouwouldhandlepathogenicbacteria!
UnitsofRadiationMeasurement
Introduction
ThisisthefourthchapterofawikibookentitledBasicPhysicsofNuclearMedicine. Afterthatratherlonganddetailedchapterwehavejustfinishedwewillnowproceedatamoreleisurely paceforashorttreatmentofsomeofthemorecommonunitsofmeasurementusedinthisfield. Beforewedosohoweveritisusefultoconsiderthetypicalradiationenvironment.Bydoingsowewillgain anappreciationofthevariousquantitiesthatcanbemeasuredbeforeconsideringtheunitswhichareused toexpresssuchmeasurements.So,wewillfirstofallconsideratypicalradiationsituationandthengoonto considerthevariousunitsofmeasurement.
ATypicalRadiationSituation
Atypicalradiationsetupisshowninthefigurebelow.Firstlythereisa sourceofradiation,secondlya radiation beamandthirdlysome material whichabsorbstheradiation.Sothequantitieswhichcanbe measuredareassociatedwiththesource,theradiationbeamandtheabsorber.
.
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Thistypeofenvironmentcouldbeonewheretheradiationfromthesourceisusedtoirradiateapatient(thatistheabsorber)fordiagnosticpurposeswherewe wouldplaceadevicebehindthepatientforproducinganimageorfortherapeuticpurposeswheretheradiationisintendedtocausedamagetoaspecific regionofapatient.Itisalsoasituationwhereweasanabsorbermaybeworkingwithasourceofradiation.
TheRadiationSource
Whentheradiationsourceisaradioactiveonethequantitythatistypicallymeasuredistheradioactivityofthesource.Wesawinthepreviouschapterthatthe unitsusedtoexpressradioactivityarethe becquerel (SIunit)andthe curie(traditionalunit).
TheRadiationBeam
Thecharacteristicofaradiationbeamthatistypicallymeasurediscalledthe RadiationExposure.Thisquantityexpresseshowmuchionisationthebeam causesintheairthroughwhichittravels. Wewillseeinthefollowingchapterthatoneofthemajorthingsthathappenswhenradiationencountersmatteristhationsareformedairbeingtheformof matteritencountersinthiscase.Sotheradiationexposureproducedbyaradiationbeamisexpressedintermsoftheamountofionisationwhichoccursinair. Astraightforwardwayofmeasuringsuchionisationistodeterminetheamountofelectricchargewhichisproduced.Youwillrememberfromyourhighschool physicsthattheSIunitofelectricchargeisthe coulomb. TheSIunitofradiationexposureisthe coulombperkilogramandisgiventhesymbolCkg1.ItisdefinedasthequantityofXorgammarayssuchthat theassociatedelectronsemittedperkilogramofairatstandardtemperatureandpressure(STP)produceionscarrying1coulombofelectriccharge.
Thetraditionalunitofradiationexposureisthe roentgen,namedinhonourofWilhelmRoentgen(whodiscoveredXrays)andisgiventhesymbolR.The
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Thetraditionalunitofradiationexposureisthe roentgen,namedinhonourofWilhelmRoentgen(whodiscoveredXrays)andisgiventhesymbolR.The roentgenisdefinedasthequantityofXorgammarayssuchthattheassociatedelectronsemittedperkilogramofairatSTPproduceionscarrying2.58x10 4coulombsofelectriccharge. So1Risasmallexposurerelativeto1Ckg1infactitis3,876timessmaller. NotethatthisunitisconfinedtoradiationbeamsconsistingofXraysorgammarays. Oftenitisnotsimplytheexposurethatisofinterestbuttheexposurerate,thatistheexposureperunittime.Theunitswhichtendtobeusedinthiscaseare theCkg1s1andtheRhr1.
TheAbsorber
Energyisdepositedintheabsorberwhenradiationinteractswithit.Itisusuallyquiteasmallamountofenergybutenergynonetheless.Thequantitythatis measurediscalledthe AbsorbedDoseanditisofrelevancetoalltypesofradiationbetheyXorgammarays,alphaorbetaparticles. TheSIunitofabsorbeddoseiscalledthe gray,namedafterafamousradiobiologist,LHGray,andisgiventhesymbolGy.Thegrayisdefinedasthe absorptionof1jouleofradiationenergyperkilogramofmaterial.Sowhen1jouleofradiationenergyisabsorbedbyakilogramoftheabsorbermaterialwe saythattheabsorbeddoseis1Gy. Thetraditionalunitofabsorbeddoseiscalledthe rad,whichsupposedlystandsforRadiationAbsorbedDose.Itisdefinedastheabsorptionof102joulesof radiationenergyperkilogramofmaterial. Asyoucanfigureout1Gyisequalto100rad. Thereareotherquantitiesderivedfromthegrayandtheradwhichexpressthebiologicaleffectsofsuchabsorbedradiationenergywhentheabsorberisliving matterhumantissueforexample.ThesequantitiesincludetheEquivalentDose,H,andtheEffectiveDose,E.TheEquivalentDoseisbasedonestimatesof theionizationcapabilityofthedifferenttypesofradiationwhicharecalled RadiationWeightingFactors,wR,suchthat
H=wRD
whereDistheabsorbeddose.TheEffectiveDoseincludeswRaswellasestimatesofthesensitivityofdifferenttissuescalled TissueWeightingFactors, wT ,suchthat
E=wTH
wherethesummation,,isoverallthetissuetypesinvolved.BoththeEquivalentDoseandtheEffectiveDosearemeasuredinderivedSIunitscalled sieverts(Sv). Letuspausehereforabittoponderontheuseoftheterm dose.Itusuallyhasamedicalconnotationinthatwecansaythatsomeonehadadoseofthe'flu, orthatthedoctorprescribedacertaindoseofadrug.Whathasittodowiththedepositionofenergybyabeamofradiationinanabsorber?Itcouldhave somethingtodowiththeinitialapplicationsofradiationintheearlypartofthe20thcenturywhenitwasusedtotreatnumerousdiseases.Asaresultwecan
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speculatethatthetermhasstayedinthevernacularofthefield.Itwouldbemucheasiertouseatermlikeabsorbedradiationenergysincewearetalking aboutthedepositionofenergyinanabsorber.Butthismightmakethesubjectjustalittletoosimple!
SpecificGammaRayConstant
Afinalquantityisworthmentioningwithregardtoradiationunits.ThisistheSpecificGammaRayConstantforaradioisotope.Thisquantityisanamalgamof thequantitieswehavealreadycoveredandexpressestheexposurerateproducedbythegammaraysemittedfromaradioisotope. Itisquiteausefulquantityfromapracticalviewpointwhenwearedealingwitharadioactivesourcewhichemitsgammarays.Supposingyouareusinga gammaemittingradioactivesource(forexample 99mTcor 137Cs)andyouwillbestandingatacertaindistancefromthissourcewhileyouareworking.You mostlikelywillbeinterestedintheexposurerateproducedbythesourcefromaradiationsafetypointofview.ThisiswheretheSpecificGammaRay Constantcomesin. Itisdefinedastheexposurerateperunitactivityatacertaindistancefromasource.TheSIunitisthereforethe
Ckg1s1Bq1at1m,
andthetraditionalunitisthe
Rhr1mCi1at1cm.
Theseunitsofmeasurementarequitecumbersomeandabitofamouthful.Itmighthavebeenbetteriftheywerenamedaftersomefamousscientistsothat wecouldcalltheSIunit1 smithandthetraditionalunit1 jonesforexample.Butagainthingsarenotthatsimple!
TheInverseSquareLaw
Beforewefinishthischapterwearegoingtoconsiderwhathappensaswemoveourabsorberawayfromtheradiationsource.Inotherwordswearegoingto thinkabouttheinfluenceofdistanceontheintensityoftheradiationbeam.Youwillfindthatausefulresultemergesfromthisthathasaveryimportant impactonradiationsafety. Theradiationproducedinaradioactivesourceisemittedinalldirections.Wecanconsiderthatspheresofequalradiationintensityexistaroundthesource withthenumberofphotons/particlesspreadingoutaswemoveawayfromthesource. Consideranareaonthesurfaceofoneofthesespheresandassumethatthereareacertainnumberofphotons/particlespassingthoughit.Ifwenow considerasphereatagreaterdistancefromthesourcethesamenumberofphotons/particleswillnowbespreadoutoverabiggerarea.Followingthislineof thoughtitiseasytoappreciatethattheradiationintensity,Iwilldecreasewiththesquareofthedistance,rfromthesource,i.e.
ThiseffectisknownastheInverseSquareLaw.Asaresultifwedoublethedistancefromasource,wereducetheintensitybyafactoroftwosquared,thatis 4.Ifwetriplethedistancetheintensityisreducedbyafactorof9,thatisthreesquared,andsoon.
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Thisisaveryusefulpieceofinformationifyouareworkingwithasourceofradiationandareinterestedinminimisingthedoseofradiationyouwillreceive.
ExternalLinks
RadiationandRisk(http://www.umich.edu/~radinfo/introduction/risk.htm)coverstheeffectofradiation,howrisksaredetermined,comparisonof radiationwithotherrisksandradiationdoses. RadiationEffectsOverview(http://www.rerf.or.jp/eigo/titles/radtoc.htm)resultsofstudiesofvictimsofnuclearbombsincludingearlyeffectson survivors,effectsontheinuteroexposed,andlateeffectsonthesurvivorsfromtheRadiationEffectsResearchFoundation,acooperativeJapan UnitedStatesResearchOrganization. TheRadiationandHealthPhysicsHomePage(http://www.umich.edu/~radinfo/)allyoueverwantedtoknowaboutradiationbutwereafraidto ask....withhundredsofWWWlinksfromtheStudentChapteroftheHealthPhysicsSociety,UniversityofMichigancontainingsectionsongeneral information,regulatoryInformation,professionalorganizationsandsocieties,radiationspecialties,healthphysicsresearchandeducation. WhatYouNeedtoKnowaboutRadiation(http://www.umich.edu/~radinfo/introduction/needtoknow/)toprotectyourselftoprotectyourfamilytomake reasonablesocialandpoliticalchoicescoverssourcesofradiationandradiationprotectionbyLauristonS.Taylor.
InteractionofRadiationwithMatter
Wehavefocussedinpreviouschaptersonthesourceofradiationandthetypesofradiation.Wearenowinapositionto considerwhathappenswhenthisradiationinteractswithmatter.Ourmainreasonfordoingthisistofindoutwhathappensto theradiationasitpassesthroughmatterandalsotosetourselvesupforconsideringhowitinteractswithlivingtissueandhow todetectradiation.Sinceallradiationdetectorsaremadefromsomeformofmatteritisusefultofirstofallknowhowradiation interactssothatwecanexploittheeffectsinthedesignofsuchdetectorsinsubsequentchaptersofthiswikibook. Beforewedothisletusfirstremindourselvesofthephysicalcharacteristicsofthemajortypesofradiation.Wehavecovered thisinformationinsomedetailearlieranditissummarisedinthetablebelowforconvenience. Wewillnowconsiderthepassageofeachtypeofradiationthroughmatterwithmostattentiongiventogammaraysbecause theyarethemostcommontypeusedinnuclearmedicine.Oneofthemaineffectsthatyouwillnoticeirrespectiveofthetype ofradiationisthationsareproducedwhenradiationinteractswithmatter.Itisforthisreasonthatitiscalledionizingradiation. Radiation AlphaParticles Mass relativelyheavy ElectricCharge doublepositive Velocity relativelyslow
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BetaParticles GammaRays
about8,000timeslighter None
negative None
lessthanthevelocityoflight 3x108m/sinfreespace
Beforewestartthoughyoumightfindananalogyusefultohelpyouwithyourthinking.Thisanalogyworksonthebasisofthinkingaboutmatterasan enormousmassofatoms(thatisnucleiwithorbitingelectrons)andthattheradiationisaparticle/photonpassingthroughthistypeofenvironment.Sothe analogytothinkaboutisaspaceshippassingthroughameteorstormlikeyoumightseeinasciencefictionmoviewherethespaceshiprepresentsthe radiationandthemeteorsrepresenttheatomsofthematerialthroughwhichtheradiationispassing.Oneaddedfeaturetobringonboardhoweveristhatour spaceshipsometimeshasanelectricchargedependingonthetypeofradiationitrepresents.
AlphaParticles
Wecanseefromthetableabovethatalphaparticleshaveadoublepositivechargeandwecanthereforeeasilyappreciatethattheywillexertconsiderable electrostaticattractionontheouterorbitalelectronsofatomsnearwhichtheypass.Theresultisthatsomeelectronswillbeattractedawayfromtheirparent atomsandthationswillbeproduced.Inotherwordsionizationsoccur. Wecanalsoappreciatefromthetablethatalphaparticlesarequitemassiverelativetotheothertypesofradiationandalsototheelectronsofatomsofthe materialthroughwhichtheyarepassing.Asaresulttheytravelinstraightlinesthroughmatterexceptforraredirectcollisionswithnucleiofatomsalongtheir path. Athirdfeatureofrelevancehereistheenergywithwhichtheyareemitted.Thisenergyinthecaseofalphaparticlesisalwaysdistinct.Forexample 221Ra emitsanalphaparticlewithanenergyof6.71MeV.Everyalphaparticleemittedfromthisradionuclidehasthisenergy.Anotherexampleis 230Uwhichemits threealphaparticleswithenergiesof5.66,5.82,5.89MeV. Finallyitisusefultonotethatalphaparticlesareverydamagingbiologicallyandthisisonereasonwhytheyarenotusedforinvivodiagnosticstudies.Wewill thereforenotbeconsideringtheminanygreatdetailinthiswikibook.
BetaParticles
Wecanseefromthetablethatbetaparticleshaveanegativeelectriccharge.Noticethatpositronsarenotconsideredheresinceaswenotedinchapter2 theseparticlesdonotlastforverylonginmatterbeforetheyareannihilated.Betaminusparticleslastconsiderablylongerandarethereforethefocusofour attentionhere. Becauseoftheirnegativechargetheyareattractedbynucleiandrepelledbyelectroncloudsastheypassthroughmatter.Theresultonceagainwithoutgoing intogreatdetailisionization. Thepathofbetaparticlesinmatterisoftendescribedasbeingtortuous,sincetheytendtoricochetfromatomtoatom. Afinalandimportantpointtonoteisthattheenergyofbetaparticlesisneverfoundtobedistinctincontrasttothealphaparticlesabove.Theenergiesofthe betaparticlesfromaradioactivesourceformsaspectrumuptoamaximumenergyseefigurebelow.Noticefromthefigurethatarangeofenergiesis presentandfeaturessuchasthemeanenergy,E mean,orthemaximumenergy,E max,arequoted.
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Thequestionwewillconsiderhereis:whyshouldaspectrumofenergiesbeseen?Surelyifabetaparticleisproducedinsideanucleuswhenaneutronis convertedintoaproton,asingledistinctenergyshouldresult.Theanswerliesinthefactthattwoparticlesareactuallyproducedinbetadecay.Wedidnot coverthisinourtreatmentinchapter2forfearofcomplicatingthingstoomuchatthatstageofthiswikibook.Butwewillcoveritherebrieflyforthesakeof completeness. ThesecondparticleproducedinbetadecayiscalledaneutrinoandwasnamedbyEnricoFermi.Itisquiteamysteriousparticlepossessingvirtuallynomass andcarryingnocharge,thoughwearestillresearchingitspropertiestoday.Thedifficultywiththemisthattheyareveryhardtodetectandthishasgreatly limitedourknowledgeaboutthemsofar. Thebetaparticleenergyspectrumcanbeexplainedbyconsideringthattheenergyproducedwhenaneutronisconvertedtoaprotonissharedbetweenthe betaparticleandtheantineutrino.Sometimesalltheenergyisgiventothebetaparticleanditreceivesthemaximumenergy,E max.Butmoreoftenthe energyissharedbetweenthemsothatforexamplethebetaparticlehasthemeanenergy,E meanandtheneutrinohastheremainderoftheenergy. Finallyitisusefultonotethatbetaparticlesarequitedamagingbiologicallyandthisisonereasonwhytheyarenotusedforinvivodiagnosticstudies.Wewill thereforenotconsidertheminanygreatdetailinthiswikibook.
GammaRays
Sincewehavebeentalkingaboutenergiesabove,letusfirstnotethattheenergiesofgammaraysemittedfromaradioactivesourcearealwaysdistinct.For example 99mTcemitsgammarayswhichallhaveanenergyof140keVand 51Cremitsgammarayswhichhaveanenergyof320keV. Gammarayshavemanymodesofinteractionwithmatter.Thosewhichhavelittleornorelevancetonuclearmedicineimagingare: MssbauerEffect CoherentScattering PairProduction andwillnotbedescribedhere.
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Thosewhichareveryimportanttonuclearmedicineimaging,arethePhotoelectricEffectandtheComptonEffect.Wewillconsidereachoftheseinturn below.NotethattheeffectsdescribedherearealsoofrelevancetotheinteractionofXrayswithmattersinceaswehavenotedbeforeXraysandgamma raysareessentiallythesameentities.Sothetreatmentbelowisalsoofrelevancetoradiography. PhotoelectricEffect Whenagammaraycollideswithanorbitalelectronofanatomofthematerialthroughwhichitispassingitcantransferallitsenergytotheelectron andceasetoexistseefigurebelow.OnthebasisofthePrincipleofConservationofEnergywecandeducethattheelectronwillleavetheatomwith akineticenergyequaltotheenergyofthegammaraylessthatoftheorbitalbindingenergy.Thiselectroniscalleda photoelectron.
Notethatanionresultswhenthephotoelectronleavestheatom.Alsonotethatthegammarayenergyistotallyabsorbedintheprocess. Twosubsequentpointsshouldalsobenoted.Firstlythephotoelectroncancauseionisationsalongitstrackinasimilarmannertoabetaparticle. SecondlyXrayemissioncanoccurwhenthevacancyleftbythephotoelectronisfilledbyanelectronfromanoutershelloftheatom.Rememberthat wecameacrossthistypeoffeaturebeforewhenwedealtwithElectronCaptureinchapter2. ComptonEffect Thistypeofeffectissomewhatakintoacueballhittingacolouredballonapooltable.Hereagammaraytransfersonlypartofitsenergytoavalance electronwhichisessentiallyfreeseefigurebelow.Noticethattheelectronleavestheatomandmayactlikeabetaparticleandthatthegammaray deflectsoffinadifferentdirectiontothatwithwhichitapproachedtheatom.ThisdeflectedorscatteredgammaraycanundergofurtherCompton Effectswithinthematerial. Notethatthiseffectissometimescalled ComptonScattering.
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Thetwoeffectswehavejustdescribedgiverisetobothabsorptionandscatteringoftheradiationbeam.Theoveralleffectisreferredtoas attenuationof gammarays.Wewillinvestigatethisfeaturefromananalyticalperspectiveinthefollowingchapter.Beforewedoso,we'llbrieflyconsidertheinteractionof radiationwithlivingmatter.
RadiationBiology
Itiswellknownthatexposuretoionizingradiationcanresultindamagetolivingtissue.We'vealreadydescribedtheinitialatomicinteractions.What's importantinradiationbiologyisthattheseinteractionsmaytriggercomplexchainsofbiomoleculareventsandconsequentbiologicaldamage. We'veseenabovethattheprimarymeansbywhichionizingradiationslosetheirenergyinmatterisbyejectionoforbitalelectrons.Thelossoforbitalelectrons fromtheatomleavesitpositivelycharged.Otherinteractionprocessesleadto excitationoftheatomratherthanionization.Here,anoutervalenceelectron receivessufficientenergytoovercomethebindingenergyofitsshellandmovesfurtherawayfromthenucleustoanorbitthatisnotnormallyoccupied.This typeofeffectaltersthechemicalforcethatbindsatomsintomoleculesandaregroupingoftheaffectedatomsintodifferentmolecularstructurescanresult. Thatis,excitationisanindirectmethodofinducingchemicalchangethroughthemodificationofindividualatomicbonds. Ionizationsandexcitationscangiverisetounstablechemicalspeciescalledfreeradicals.Theseareatomsandmoleculesinwhichthereareunpaired electrons.Theyarechemicallyveryreactiveandseekstabilitybybondingwithotheratomsandmolecules.Changestonearbymoleculescanarisebecauseof theirproduction. But,let'sgobacktotheinteractionsthemselvesforthemoment..... InthecaseofXandgammarayinteractions,theenergyofthephotonsisusuallytransferredbycollisionswithorbitalelectrons,e.g.viaphotoelectricand Comptoneffects.Theseradiationsarecapableofpenetratingdeeplyintotissuesincetheirinteractionsdependonchancecollisionswithelectrons.Indeed, nuclearmedicineimagingisonlypossiblewhentheenergyofthegammaraysissufficientforcompleteemissionfromthebody,butlowenoughtobe detected. Theinteractionofchargedparticles(e.g.alphaandbetaparticles),ontheotherhand,canbebycollisionswithatomicelectronsandalsoviaattractiveand repulsiveelectrostaticforces.Therateatwhichenergyislostalongthetrackofachargedparticledependsthereforeonthesquareofthechargeonthat particle.Thatis,thegreatertheparticlecharge,thegreatertheprobabilityofitgeneratingionpairsalongitstrack.Inaddition,alongerperiodoftimeis availableforelectrostaticforcestoactwhenachargedparticleismovingslowlyandtheionizationprobabilityisthereforeincreasedasaresult.
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Thesituationisillustratedinthefollowingfigurewheretracksofchargedparticlesinwateraredepicted.Noticethatthetrackoftherelativelymassive particleisastraightline,aswe'vediscussedearlierinthischapter,withalargenumberofinteractions(indicatedbytheasterisks)perunitlength.Noticealso thatthetracksforelectronsaretortuous,aswe'vealsodiscussedearlier,andthatthenumberofinteractionsperunitlengthisconsiderablyless.
Ionizationsandexcitationsalongparticletracksinwater,fora5.4 MeVparticle(topleft),forelectronsgeneratedfollowingthe absorptionofa1.5keVXrayphoton(topright)andelectrons generatedduringthedecayofiodine125.
TheLinearEnergyTransfer(LET)isdefinedastheenergyreleasedperunitlengthofthetrackofanionizingparticle.Aslowlymoving,highlychargedparticle thereforehasasubstantiallyhigherLETthanafast,singlychargedparticle.Analphaparticleof5MeVenergyandanelectronof1MeVenergyhaveLETs, forinstance,of95and0.25keV/m,respectively.Theionizationdensityandhencetheenergydepositionpatternassociatedwiththeheavierchargedparticle isverymuchgreaterthanthatarisingfromelectrons,asillustratedinthefigureabove. Theenergytransferredalongthetrackofachargedparticlewillvarybecausethevelocityoftheparticleislikelytobecontinuouslydecreasing.Each interactionremovesasmallamountofenergyfromtheparticlesothattheLETgraduallyincreasesalongaparticletrackwithadramaticincrease(calledthe BraggPeak)occurringjustbeforetheparticlecomestorest. TheInternationalCommissiononRadiationUnitsandMeasurements(http://www.icru.org/)(ICRU)suggestthat linealenergyisabetterindicatorofrelative biologicaleffectiveness(RBE ).AlthoughlinealenergyhasthesameunitsasLET(e.g.keV/m),itisdefinedasthe: ratiooftheenergydepositedinavolumeoftissuetotheaveragediameterofthatvolume. Sincethemicroscopicdepositionofenergymaybequiteanisotropic,linealenergyshouldbeamoreappropriatemeasureofpotentialdamagethanthatof LET.TheICRUandtheICRPhaveaccordinglyrecommendedthattheradiationeffectivenessofaparticularradiationtypeshouldbebasedonlinealenergyin a1mdiametersphereoftissue.ThelinealenergycanbecalculatedforanygivenradiationtypeandenergyandaRadiationWeightingFactor,(wR)canthen
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bedeterminedbasedontheintegratedvaluesoflinealenergyalongtheradiationtrack. Alllivingthingsonthisplanethavebeenexposedtoionizingradiationsincethedawnoftime.Thecurrentsituationforhumansissummarizedinthefollowing table: AdaptedwithpermissionfromAppliedImagingTechnology(http://homepage.mac.com/kieranmaher/ait/). Source EffectiveDose (mSv/year) Comment
Cosmic radiation Terrestrial radiation Internal radiation Radonand othergases
~0.4
About100,000cosmicrayneutronsand400,000secondarycosmicrayspenetrate ourbodieseveryhouranditincreaseswithaltitude! Over200milliongammarayspassthroughourbodyeveryhourfromsourcessuch assoilandbuildingmaterials About15million 40Katomsandabout7,000naturaluraniumatomsdisintegrate insideourbodieseveryhour,primarilyfromourdiet
~0.5
~0.3
~1.3
About30,000atomsdisintegrateinsideourlungseveryhourasaresultofbreathing
Thesumtotalofthis NaturalBackgroundRadiationisabout2.5mSvperyear,withlargevariationsdependingonaltitudeanddietaryintakeaswellas geologicalandgeographicallocation. Itsgenerallyconsideredthatrepairmechanismsexistinlivingmatterandthatthesecanbeinvokedfollowingradiationdamageatthebiomolecularlevel. Thesemechanismsarelikelytohaveanevolutionarybasisarisingasaresponsetoradiationfluxesgeneratedbynaturalbackgroundsourcesovertheaeons. Itsalsoknownthatquiteconsiderabledamagetotissuescanariseatquitehigherradiationfluxes,evenatmedicalexposures (http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/rsnaii.html).Celldeathandtransformationstomalignantstatescanresultleadingtolatentperiodsofmanyyearsbeforeclinicalsigns ofcancerorleukemia,forinstance,becomemanifest.Furthertreatmentofthisvastfieldofradiationbiologyhoweverisbeyondourscopehere.
PracticalRadiationSafety
Radiationhazardsarisesincenuclearmedicineinvolvesthehandlingofradioactivematerials.Althoughthisriskmaybesmall,itremainsimportanttokeep occupationalexposuresaslowasreasonablyachievable.Essentialpracticesforachievingthisaiminclude: Administration
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Maintainingacomprehensiverecordofallradioactivesourcepurchases,usage,movementandstorage. EnsuringthatanyCodesofSafePracticeareadheredtoanddevelopsensiblewrittenprotocolsandworkingrulesforhandling radioisotopes. Protocolsfordealingwithminorcontaminationincidentsoftheenvironmentorofstaffmembersmustbeestablished.Rememberthatno matterhowgoodworkpracticesare,minoraccidentsorincidentsinvolvingspillageofradioisotopescantakeplace. Facility Storageofradioactivesourcesinasecureshieldedenvironment.Speciallydedicatedfacilitiesarerequiredforthestorage,safehandling, manipulationanddispensingofunsealedradioactivesources.Storageareasshouldbedesignedforbothbulkradioisotopeand radioactivewaste.Furthermore,radioactivepatientsshouldberegardedasunsealedsources. Adequateventilationofanyworkarea.ThisisparticularlyimportanttominimizetheinhalationofTechnigasandpotentiallyvolatile radioisotopessuchasI125andI131.Itispreferabletousefumehoodswhenworkingwithvolatilematerials. Benchesshouldbemanufacturedwithsmooth,hardimpervioussurfaceswithappropriatesplashbackstoallowreadydecontamination followinganyspillageofradioisotopes.Laboratoryworkshouldbeperformedinstainlesssteeltrayslinedwithabsorbentpaper. Excretionofradioactivematerialsbypatientsmaybeviafaeces,urine,saliva,blood,exhaledbreathortheskin.Provisiontodealwith anyorallofthesepotentialpathwaysforcontaminationmustbemade. Provisionforcollectionandpossiblestorageofbothliquidandsolidradioactivewastemaybenecessaryinsomecircumstances.Most shortlived,watersolubleliquidwastecanbeflushedintothesewersbutlongerlivedisotopessuchasI131mayhavetobestoredfor decay.Suchwastemustbeadequatelycontainedandlabelledduringstorage. Equipment Ensurethatappropriatesurveymonitorsareavailabletodetermineifanycontaminationhasoccurredandtoassistindecontamination procedures.Routinemonitoringofpotentiallycontaminatedareasmustbeperformed. Ensurethatallpotentiallyexposedstaffareissuedwithindividualpersonnelmonitors. Protectiveclothingsuchasgowns,smocks,overbootsandglovesshouldbeprovidedandworntopreventcontaminationofthepersonnel handlingtheradioactivity.Inparticular,glovesmustbewornwhenadministeringradioactivematerialsorallyorintravenouslytopatients.It shouldbenotedthatpenetrationofglovesmayoccurwhenhandlingsomeiodinecompoundssothatwearingasecondpairofglovesis recommended.Inanyevent,glovesshouldbechangedfrequentlyanddiscardedonestreatedasradioactivewaste. Behaviours Eatinganddrinkingoffood,smoking,andtheapplicationofcosmeticsisprohibitedinlaboratoriesinwhichunsealedsourcesareutilized. Mouthpipettingofanyradioactivesubstanceistotallyprohibited. Precautionsshouldbetakentoavoidpunctures,cuts,abrasionsandanyotheropenskinwoundswhichotherwisemightallowegressof radiopharmaceuticalsintothebloodstream. Optimization
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Alwaysensurethatthereisanetbenefitresultingfromthepatientprocedure.Canthediagnosisortreatmentbemadebyrecoursetoan alternativemeansusingnonionizingradiation? Ensurethatallstaff,includingphysicians,technologists,nursesandinternsandotherstudents,whoareinvolvedinthepracticeofnuclear medicinereceivetherelevantleveloftrainingandeducationappropriatetotheirassignedtasks.Thetrainingprogramcouldbeinthe formofseminars,refreshercoursesandinformaltutorials. AsubstantiveQualityAssurance(QA)programshouldbeimplementedtoensurethatthefunctionoftheDoseCalibrator,Gamma Camera,computerandotherancillaryequipmentisoptimized. Thepotentialhazardstostaffinanuclearmedicineenvironmentinclude: Milkingthe 99mTcgenerator,drawingupandmeasuringthequantityofradioisotopepriortoadministration. Deliveringtheactivitytothepatientbyinjectionorothermeansandpositioningthenowradioactivepatientintheimagingdevice. Removingthepatientsfromtheimagingdeviceandreturningthemtothewardwheretheymaycontinuetorepresentaradiationhazard forsometime.ForTc99m,ashortlivedradionuclidethehazardperiodwillbeonlyafewhoursbutfortherapeuticisotopesthe hazardousperiodmaybeseveraldays. Disposalofradioactivewasteincludingbodyfluids,suchasbloodandurine,butalsoswabs,syringes,needles,papertowelsetc. Cleaninguptheimagingareaaftertheprocedure. Contamination. Thetablebelowliststhedoseratesfrompatientshavingnuclearmedicineexaminations.Ingeneral,thehazardsfromhandlingordealingwithradioactive patientsariseintwoparts: Externalhazard:Thiswillbethecasewhentheradioisotopeemitspenetratinggammarays.Usually,thishazardcanbeminimisedby employingshieldingandsensibleworkpractices. Radioactivecontamination:Thisispotentiallyofmoreconcernasitmayleadtotheinhalationoringestionofradioactivematerialbystaff. Possiblesourcesofcontaminationareradioactiveblood,urineandsaliva,emanatingfromapatient,orairborneradioactivevapour. Sensibleworkpractices,whichinvolvehighlevelsofpersonalhygiene,shouldensurethatcontaminationisnotamajorissue.
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Doseratesfrompatientsfollowingadministration.
OneofthemostcommonnuclearmedicinediagnosticproceduresisthebonescanusingtheisotopeTc99m.Theexposurerateat1metrefromatypical patientwillpeakatapproximately3Svperhourimmediatelyafterinjectiondroppingsteadilybecauseofradioactivitydecayandthroughexcretionsothat after2hoursitwillbeabout1.5Svperhour.Neglectinganyfurtherexcretion,thetotalexposurereceivedbyanindividual,shouldthatpersonstandone meterfromthepatientforthewholeofthefirst24hours,wouldbe~17Sv.Forapersonat3metersfromthepatientthisnumberwouldreduceto1.7Sv andforadistanceof5metresitwouldbe~0.7Sv.Thesevalueshavebeenestimatedonthebasisoftheinversesquarelaw. Patientsshouldbeencouragedtodrinksubstantialquantitiesofliquidfollowingtheirscan,asthiswillimproveexcretionandaidinminimizingnotonlytheir radiationdosebutalsothatofnursingstaff.
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AttenuationofGammaRays
Wecoveredtheinteractionofgammarayswithmatterfromadescriptiveviewpointinthepreviouschapterandwesawthatthe ComptonandPhotoelectricEffectswerethemajormechanisms.Wewillconsiderthesubjectagainherebutthistimefroman analyticalperspective.Thiswillallowustodevelopamoregeneralunderstandingofthephenomenon. NotethatthetreatmentherealsoreferstotheattenuationofXrayssince,aswenotedbeforegammaraysandXraysare essentiallythesamephysicalentities. Ourtreatmentbeginswithadescriptionofasimpleradiationexperimentwhichcanbeperformedeasilyinthelaboratoryand whichmanyoftheearlypioneersinthisfielddid.Wewillthenbuildontheinformationobtainedfromsuchanexperimentto developasimpleequationandsomesimpleconceptswhichwillallowusgeneralisethesituationtoanyattenuationsituation.
TheComptoneffect
AttenuationExperiment
Theexperimentisquitesimple.Itinvolvesfiringanarrowbeamofgammaraysatamaterialandmeasuringhowmuchoftheradiationgetsthrough.Wecan varytheenergyofthegammaraysweuseandthetypeofabsorbingmaterialaswellasitsthicknessanddensity. Theexperimentalsetupisillustratedinthefigurebelow.Werefertotheintensityoftheradiationwhichstrikestheabsorberasthe incidentintensity, I 0,and theintensityoftheradiationwhichgetsthroughtheabsorberasthe transmittedintensity, I x.Noticealsothatthethicknessoftheabsorberisdenotedby x.
FromwhatwecoveredinthepreviouschapterwecanappreciatethatsomeofthegammarayswillbesubjectedtointeractionssuchasthePhotoelectric EffectandtheComptonEffectastheypassthroughtheabsorber.Thetransmittedgammarayswillinthemainbethosewhichpassthroughwithoutany interactionsatall. Wecanthereforeexpecttofindthatthetransmittedintensitywillbelessthantheincidentintensity,thatis
Butbyhowmuchyoumightask.Beforeweconsiderthisletusdenotethedifferencebetween I xand I 0asI ,thatis

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EffectofAtomicNumber LetusstartexploringthemagnitudeofI byplacingdifferentabsorbersinturnintheradiationbeam.WhatwewouldfindisthatthemagnitudeofI is highlydependentontheatomicnumberoftheabsorbingmaterial.ForexamplewewouldfindthatI wouldbequitelowinthecaseofanabsorber madefromcarbon(Z=6)andverylargeinthecaseoflead(Z=82). Wecangainanappreciationofwhythisissofromthefollowingfigure:
Thefigureillustratesahighatomicnumberabsorberbythelargecircleswhichrepresentindividualatomsandalowatomicnumbermaterialbysmaller circles.Theincidentradiationbeamisrepresentedbythearrowsenteringeachabsorberfromtheleft.Noticethattheatomsofthehighatomicnumber absorberpresentlargertargetsfortheradiationtostrikeandhencethechancesforinteractionsviathePhotoelectricandComptonEffectsisrelatively high.Theattenuationshouldthereforeberelativelylarge. Inthecaseofthelowatomicnumberabsorberhowevertheindividualatomsaresmallerandhencethechancesofinteractionsarereduced.Inother wordstheradiationhasagreaterprobabilityofbeingtransmittedthroughtheabsorberandtheattenuationisconsequentlylowerthaninthehigh atomicnumbercase. Withrespecttoourspaceshipanalogyusedinthepreviouschaptertheatomicnumbercanbethoughtofasthesizeofindividualmeteorsinthemeteor cloud. Ifweweretopreciselycontrolourexperimentalsetupandcarefullyanalyseourresultswewouldfindthat:
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Thereforeifweweretodoubletheatomicnumberofourabsorberwewouldincreasetheattenuationbyafactoroftwocubed,thatis8,ifwewereto tripletheatomicnumberwewouldincreasetheattenuationbyafactorof27,thatisthreecubed,andsoon. Itisforthisreasonthathighatomicnumbermaterials(e.g.Pb)areusedforradiationprotection. EffectofDensity AsecondapproachtoexploringthemagnitudeofIistoseewhathappenswhenwechangethedensityoftheabsorber.Wecanseefromthe followingfigurethatalowdensityabsorberwillgiverisetolessattenuationthanahighdensityabsorbersincethechancesofaninteractionbetween theradiationandtheatomsoftheabsorberarerelativelylower.
Soinouranalogyofthespaceshipenteringameteorcloudthinkofmeteorcloudsofdifferentdensityandthechancesofthespaceshipcollidingwitha meteor. EffectofThickness Athirdfactorwhichwecouldvaryisthethicknessoftheabsorber.Asyoushouldbeabletopredictatthisstagethethickertheabsorberthegreaterthe attenuation. EffectofGammaRayEnergy Finallyinourexperimentwecouldvarytheenergyofthegammaraybeam.Wewouldfindwithoutgoingintoitinanygreatdetailthatthegreaterthe energyofthegammaraysthelesstheattenuation.Youmightliketothinkofitintermsoftheenergywithwhichthespaceshipapproachesthemeteor cloudandthelikelihoodofaslowspaceshipgettingthroughasopposedtoaspaceshiptravellingwithahigherenergy.
MathematicalModel
Wewillconsideramathematicalmodelherewhichwillhelpustoexpressourexperimentalobservationsinmoregeneralterms.Youwillfindthatthe
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Wewillconsideramathematicalmodelherewhichwillhelpustoexpressourexperimentalobservationsinmoregeneralterms.Youwillfindthatthe mathematicalapproachadoptedandtheresultobtainedisquitesimilartowhatweencounteredearlierwithRadioactiveDecay.Soyouwillnothavetoplod yourwaythroughanynewmathsbelow,justadifferentapplicationofthesameformofmathematicalanalysis! Letusstartquitesimplyandassumethatwevaryonlythethicknessoftheabsorber.Inotherwordsweuseanabsorberofthesamematerial(i.e.same atomicnumber)andthesamedensityandusegammaraysofthesameenergyfortheexperiment.Onlythethicknessoftheabsorberischanged. FromourreasoningaboveitiseasytoappreciatethatthemagnitudeofI shouldbedependentontheradiationintensityaswellasthethicknessofthe absorber,thatisforaninfinitesimallysmallchangeinabsorberthickness:
theminussignindicatingthattheintensityisreducedbytheabsorber. Turningtheproportionalityinthisequationintoanequality,wecanwrite:
wheretheconstantofproportionality,,iscalledtheLinearAttenuationCoefficient. Dividingacrossby I wecanrewritethisequationas:
Sothisequationdescribesthesituationforanytinychangeinabsorberthickness, dx.Tofindoutwhathappensforthecompletethicknessofanabsorberwe simplyaddupwhathappensineachsmallthickness.Inotherwordsweintegratetheaboveequation.Expressingthismoreformallywecansaythatfor thicknessesfrom x=0toanyotherthickness x,theradiationintensitywilldecreasefrom I 0to I x,sothat:
Thisfinalexpressiontellsusthattheradiationintensitywilldecreaseinanexponentialfashionwiththethicknessoftheabsorberwiththerateofdecrease beingcontrolledbytheLinearAttenuationCoefficient.Theexpressionisshowningraphicalformbelow.Thegraphplotstheintensityagainstthickness, x.We canseethattheintensitydecreasesfrom I 0,thatisthenumberat x=0,inarapidfashioninitiallyandthenmoreslowlyintheclassicexponentialmanner.

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Graphicalrepresentationofthedependenceofradiationintensityonthe thicknessofabsorber:Intensityversusthicknessontheleftandthe naturallogarithmoftheintensityversusthicknessontheright.
TheinfluenceoftheLinearAttenuationCoefficientcanbeseeninthenextfigure.Allthreecurveshereareexponentialinnature,onlytheLinearAttenuation Coefficientisdifferent.NoticethatwhentheLinearAttenuationCoefficienthasalowvaluethecurvedecreasesrelativelyslowlyandwhentheLinear AttenuationCoefficientislargethecurvedecreasesveryquickly.
Exponentialattenuationexpressedusinga small,mediumandlargevalueoftheLinear AttenuationCoefficient,.
TheLinearAttenuationCoefficientischaracteristicofindividualabsorbingmaterials.Somelikecarbonhaveasmallvalueandareeasilypenetratedby gammarays.OthermaterialssuchasleadhavearelativelylargeLinearAttenuationCoefficientandarerelativelygoodabsorbersofradiation:
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LinearAttenuationCoefficients(incm1) forarangeofmaterialsatgammaray energiesof100,200and500keV. Absorber Air Water Carbon Aluminium Iron Copper Lead 100keV 200keV 500keV 0.000195 0.000159 0.000112 0.167 0.335 0.435 2.72 3.8 59.7 0.136 0.274 0.324 1.09 1.309 10.15 0.097 0.196 0.227 0.655 0.73 1.64
Thematerialslistedinthetableaboveareair,waterandarangeofelementsfromcarbon(Z=6)throughtolead(Z=82)andtheirLinearAttenuation Coefficientsaregivenforthreegammarayenergies.ThefirstpointtonoteisthattheLinearAttenuationCoefficientincreasesastheatomicnumberofthe absorberincreases.Forexampleitincreasesfromaverysmallvalueof0.000195cm1forairat100keVtoalmost60cm1forlead.Thesecondpointtonote isthattheLinearAttenuationCoefficientforallmaterialsdecreaseswiththeenergyofthegammarays.Forexamplethevalueforcopperdecreasesfrom about3.8cm1at100keVto0.73cm1at500keV.Thethirdpointtonoteisthatthetrendsinthetableareconsistentwiththeanalysispresentedearlier. Finallyitisimportanttoappreciatethatouranalysisaboveisonlystrictlytruewhenwearedealingwithnarrowradiationbeams.Otherfactorsneedtobe takenintoaccountwhenbroadradiationbeamsareinvolved.
HalfValueLayer
AswithusingtheHalfLifetodescribetheRadioactiveDecayLawanindicatorisusuallyderivedfromtheexponentialattenuationequationabovewhichhelps usthinkmoreclearlyaboutwhatisgoingon.Thisindicatoriscalledthe HalfValueLayeranditexpressesthethicknessofabsorbingmaterialwhichis neededtoreducetheincidentradiationintensitybyafactoroftwo.Fromagraphicalpointofviewwecansaythatwhen:
thethicknessofabsorberistheHalfValueLayer:
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TheHalfValueLayerforarangeofabsorbersislistedinthefollowingtableforthreegammarayenergies: HalfValueLayers(incm)forarange ofmaterialsatgammarayenergiesof 100,200and500keV. Absorber 100keV 200keV 500keV Air Water Carbon Aluminium Iron Copper Lead 3555 4.15 2.07 1.59 0.26 0.18 0.012 4359 5.1 2.53 2.14 0.64 0.53 0.068 6189 7.15 3.54 3.05 1.06 0.95 0.42
ThefirstpointtonoteisthattheHalfValueLayerdecreasesastheatomicnumberincreases.Forexamplethevalueforairat100keVisabout35metersand itdecreasestojust0.12mmforleadatthisenergy.Inotherwords35mofairisneededtoreducetheintensityofa100keVgammaraybeambyafactorof twowhereasjust0.12mmofleadcandothesamething.ThesecondthingtonoteisthattheHalfValueLayerincreaseswithincreasinggammarayenergy. Forexamplefrom0.18cmforcopperat100keVtoabout1cmat500keV.Thirdlynotethatrelativetothedataintheprevioustablethereisareciprocal relationshipbetweentheHalfValueLayerandtheLinearAttenuationCoefficient,whichwewillnowinvestigate.
RelationshipbetweenandtheHVL
AswasthecasewiththeRadioactiveDecayLaw,whereweexploredtherelationshipbetweentheHalfLifeandtheDecayConstant,arelationshipcanbe derivedbetweentheHalfValueLayerandtheLinearAttenuationCoefficient.WecandothisbyusingthedefinitionoftheHalfValueLayer:
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when
andinsertingitintheexponentialattenuationequation,thatis:
togive
Therefore
and
TheselasttwoequationsexpresstherelationshipbetweentheLinearAttenuationCoefficientandtheHalfValueLayer.Theyareveryusefulasyouwillsee whensolvingnumericalquestionsrelatingtoattenuationandfrequentlyformthefirststepinsolvinganumericalproblem.
MassAttenuationCoefficient
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WeimpliedabovethattheLinearAttenuationCoefficientwasusefulwhenwewereconsideringanabsorbingmaterialofthesamedensitybutofdifferent thicknesses.Arelatedcoefficientcanbeofvaluewhenwewishtoincludethedensity,,oftheabsorberinouranalysis.Thisisthe MassAttenuation Coefficientwhichisdefinedasthe:
ThemeasurementunitusedfortheLinearAttenuationCoefficientinthetableaboveiscm1,andacommonunitofdensityisthegcm3.Youmightliketo deriveforyourselfonthisbasisthatthecm2g1istheequivalentunitoftheMassAttenuationCoefficient.
Questions
Twoquestionsaregivenbelowtohelpyoudevelopyourunderstandingofthematerialpresentedinthischapter.Thefirstoneisrelativelystraightforwardand willexerciseyourapplicationoftheexponentialattenuationequation.Thesecondquestionisalotmorechallengingandwillhelpyourelateexponential attenuationtoradioactivityandradiationexposure. Question1 Howmuchaluminiumisrequiredtoreducetheintensityofa200keVgammaraybeamto10%ofitsincidentintensity?AssumethattheHalfValueLayerfor 200keVgammaraysinAlis2.14cm. Answer Thequestionphrasedintermsofthesymbolsusedaboveis:
WearetoldthattheHalfValueLayeris2.14cm.ThereforetheLinearAttenuationCoefficientis
Nowcombiningallthiswiththeexponentialattenuationequation:
wecanwrite:
Therefore
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Sothethicknessofaluminiumrequiredtoreducethesegammaraysbyafactoroftenisabout7cm.Thisrelativelylargethicknessisthereasonwhy aluminiumisnotgenerallyusedinradiationprotectionitsatomicnumberisnothighenoughforefficientandsignificantattenuationofgammarays. YoumightliketotrythisquestionforthecasewhenPbistheabsorberbutyouwillneedtofindouttheHalfValueLayerforthe200keVgammarays yourself! Here'sahintthough:havealookatoneofthetablesabove. Andhere'stheanswerforyoutocheckwhenyou'vefinished: 2.2mm. InotherwordsarelativelythinthicknessofPbisrequiredtodothesamejobas7cmofaluminium. Question2 A105MBqsourceof 137CsistobecontainedinaPbboxsothattheexposurerate1mawayfromthesourceislessthan0.5mR/hour.IftheHalfValue Layerfor 137CsgammaraysinPbis0.6cm,whatthicknessofPbisrequired?TheSpecificGammaRayConstantfor 137Csis3.3Rhr1mCi1at1cm. Answer Thisisafairlytypicalquestionwhichariseswhensomeoneisusingradioactivematerials.Wewishtouseacertainquantityofthematerialandwewish tostoreitinaleadcontainersothattheexposureratewhenweareworkingacertaindistanceawayisbelowsomelevelforsafetyreasons.Weknow theradioactivityofthematerialwewillbeusing.ButitsquotedinSIunits.Welookupareferencebooktofindouttheexposurerateforthis radioisotopeandfindthattheSpecificGammaRayConstantisquotedintraditionalunits.Justasinourquestion! Soletusstartbygettingourunitsright.TheSpecificGammaRayConstantisgivenas: 3.3Rhr1mCi1at1cmfromthesource. Thisisequalto: 3300mRhr1mCi1at1cmfromthesource,
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whichisequalto:
onthebasisoftheInverseSquareLaw.Thisresultexpressedperbecquerelis
since1mCi=3.7x107Bq.Andthereforefor105MBq,theexposurerateis:
Thatistheexposurerate1meterfromoursourceis 891.9mRhr1. Wewishtoreducethisexposurerateaccordingtothequestiontolessthan0.5mRhr1usingPb. YoushouldbeableatthisstagetousetheexponentialattenuationequationalongwiththeHalfValueLayerforthesegammaraysinPbtocalculate thatthethicknessofPbrequiredisabout 6.5cm.
ExternalLinks
MucalontheWeb(http://www.csrri.iit.edu/mucal.html)anonlineprogramwhichcalculatesxrayabsorptioncoefficientsbyPathikritBandyopadhyay, TheCenterforSynchrotronRadiationResearchandInstrumentationattheIllinoisInstituteofTechnology. TablesofXRayMassAttenuationCoefficients(http://physics.nist.gov/PhysRefData/XrayMassCoef/cover.html)avastamountofdataforallelements fromNationalInstituteofScience&Technology,USA.
GasFilledRadiationDetectors
Wehavelearnedinthelasttwochaptersabouthowradiationinteractswithmatterandwearenowinapositiontoapplyourunderstandingtothedetectionof radiation. OneofthemajoroutcomesoftheinteractionofradiationwithmatteristhecreationofionsaswesawinChapter5.Thisoutcomeisexploitedingasfilled detectorsasyouwillseeinthischapter.Thedetectorinthiscaseisessentiallyagas,inthatitistheatomsofagaswhichareionisedbytheradiation.We willseeinthenextchapterthatsolidscanalsobeusedasradiationdetectorsbutfornowwewilldealwithgasesandbeintroducedtodetectorssuchasthe IonizationChamberandtheGeigerCounter.
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Beforeconsideringthesespecifictypesofgasfilleddetectorswewillfirstofallconsiderthesituationfromaverygeneralperspective.
GasFilledDetectors
Aswenotedabovetheradiationinteractswithgasatomsinthisformofdetectorandcausesionstobeproduced.OnthebasisofwhatwecoveredinChapter 5itiseasytoappreciatethatitisthePhotoelectricandComptonEffectsthatcausetheionisationswhentheradiationconsistsofgammarayswithenergies usefulfordiagnosticpurposes. Thereareactuallytwoparticlesgeneratedwhenanionisproducedthepositiveionitselfandanelectron.These twoparticlesarecollectivelycalledan ionpair.Thedetectionoftheproductionofionpairsinthegasisthebasis uponwhichgasdetectorsoperate.Themannerinwhichthisisdoneisbyusinganelectricfieldtosweepthe electronsawaytoapositivelychargedelectrodeandtheionstoanegativelychargedelectrode. Letusconsideraverysimplearrangementasshowninthefollowingfigure:
Herewehavetwoelectrodeswiththegasbetweenthem.Somethinglikeacapacitorwithagasdielectric. Thegaswhichisusedistypicallyaninertgas,forexampleargonorxenon.Thereasonforusinganinertgasissothatchemicalreactionswillnotoccurwithin thegasfollowingtheionisationswhichcouldchangethecharacteristicsofourdetector. Adcvoltageisplacedbetweenthetwoelectrodes.Asaresultwhentheradiationinteractswithagasatomtheelectronwillmovetowardsthepositive electrodeandtheionwillmovetowardsthenegativeelectrode.Butwillthesechargesreachtheirrespectiveelectrodes?Theanswerisobviouslydependenton themagnitudeofthedcvoltage.Forexampleifatoneextremewehadadcvoltageofamicrovolt(thatis,onemillionthofavolt)theresultantelectricfield maybeinsufficienttomovetheionpairveryfarandthetwoparticlesmayrecombinetoreformthegasatom.Attheotherextremesupposeweapplieda millionvoltsbetweenthetwoelectrodes.Inthiscasewearelikelytogetsparksflyingbetweenthetwoelectrodesalightningboltifyoulikeandour detectormightactsomethinglikeaneonsign.Somewhereinbetweenthesetwoextremesthoughweshouldbeabletoprovideasufficientattractiveforcefor theionandelectrontomovetotheirrespectiveelectrodeswithoutrecombinationorsparkingoccurring.
Wewilllookatthissubjectinmoredetailbelow.Beforewedoletusseehowtheconceptofthesimpledetectorillustratedaboveisappliedinpractice.The
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Wewilllookatthissubjectinmoredetailbelow.Beforewedoletusseehowtheconceptofthesimpledetectorillustratedaboveisappliedinpractice.The gasfilledchamberisgenerallycylindricalinshapeinrealdetectors.Thisshapehasbeenfoundtobemoreefficientthantheparallelelectrodearrangement shownabove. Acrosssectionalviewthroughthiscylinderisshowninthefollowingfigure:
Thepositiveelectrodeconsistsofathinwirerunningthroughthecentreofthecylinderandthenegativeelectrodeconsistsofthewallofthecylinder.In principlewecouldmakesuchadetectorbygettingasectionofametalpipe,mountingawirethroughitscentre,fillingitwithaninertgasandsealingtheends ofthepipe.Actualdetectorsarealittlebitmorecomplexhoweverbutletusnotgetsidetrackedatthisstage. Weapplyadcvoltageviaabatteryorviaadcvoltagesupplyandconnectitasshowninthefigureusingaresistor,R.Now,assumethatagammarayenters thedetector.Ionpairswillbeproducedinthegastheionsheadingtowardstheouterwallandtheelectronsheadingtowardsthecentrewire.Letusthink abouttheelectronsforamoment.Whentheyhitthecentrewirewecansimplythinkofthemasenteringthewireandflowingthroughtheresistortogettothe positiveterminalofthedcvoltagesupply.TheseelectronsflowingthroughtheresistorconstituteanelectriccurrentandasaresultofOhm'sLawavoltageis generatedacrosstheresistor.Thisvoltageisamplifiedbyanamplifierandsometypeofdeviceisusedtoregistertheamplifiedvoltage.Aloudspeakerisa fairlysimpledevicetouseforthispurposeandthegenerationofavoltagepulseismanifestbyaclickfromtheloudspeaker.Otherdisplaydevicesincludea ratemeterwhichdisplaysthenumberofvoltagepulsesgeneratedperunittimesomethinglikeaspeedometerinacarandapulsecounter(or scaler)which countsthenumberofvoltagepulsesgeneratedinasetperiodoftime.Avoltagepulseisfrequentlyreferredtoinpracticeasa countandthenumberof voltagepulsesgeneratedperunittimeisfrequentlycalledthe countrate.
DCVoltageDependence
Ifweweretobuildadetectorandelectroniccircuitasshowninthefigureabovewecouldconductanexperimentthatwouldallowustoexploretheeffectof thedcvoltageonthemagnitudeofthevoltagepulsesproducedacrosstheresistor,R.Notethattheterm pulseheightisfrequentlyusedinthisfieldtorefer tothemagnitudeofvoltagepulses. Ideally,wecouldgeneratearesultsimilartothatillustratedinthefollowingfigure:
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Thegraphillustratesthedependenceofthepulseheightonthedcvoltage.Notethattheverticalaxisrepresentingthepulseheightisonalogarithmicscale forthesakeofcompressingalargelinearscaleontoareasonablysizedgraph. Theexperimentalresultscanbedividedintofiveregionsasshown.Wewillnowconsidereachregioninturn. RegionAHereV dcisrelativelylowsothatrecombinationofpositiveionsandelectronsoccurs.Asaresultnotallionpairsarecollectedandthe voltagepulseheightisrelativelylow.Itdoesincreaseasthedcvoltageincreaseshoweverastheamountofrecombinationreduces. RegionBV dcissufficientlyhighinthisregionsothatonlyanegligibleamountofrecombinationoccurs.Thisistheregionwhereatypeofdetector calledthe IonizationChamberoperates. RegionCV dcissufficientlyhighinthisregionsothatelectronsapproachingthecentrewireattainsufficientenergybetweencollisionswiththe electronsofgasatomstoproducenewionpairs.Thusthenumberofelectronsisincreasedsothattheelectricchargepassingthroughtheresistor,R, maybeuptoathousandtimesgreaterthanthechargeproducedinitiallybytheradiationinteraction.Thisistheregionwhereatypeofdetectorcalled theProportionalCounteroperates. RegionDV dcissohighthatevenaminimallyionizingparticlewillproduceaverylargevoltagepulse.Theinitialionizationproducedbytheradiation triggersacompletegasbreakdownasanavalancheofelectronsheadstowardsandspreadsalongthecentrewire.Thisregioniscalledthe Geiger MllerRegion,andisexploitedintheGeigerCounter. RegionE HereV dcishighenoughforthegastocompletelybreakdownanditcannotbeusedtodetectradiation. WewillnowconsiderfeaturesoftheIonisationChamberandtheGeigerCounterinmoredetail.
IonisationChamber
Theionisationchamberconsistsofagasfilleddetectorenergisedbyarelativelylowdcvoltage.Wewillfirstofallmakeanestimateofthevoltagepulse
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Theionisationchamberconsistsofagasfilleddetectorenergisedbyarelativelylowdcvoltage.Wewillfirstofallmakeanestimateofthevoltagepulse heightgeneratedbythistypeofdetector.Wewillthenconsidersomeapplicationsofionisationchambers. Whenabetaparticleinteractswiththegastheenergyrequiredtoproduceoneionpairisabout30eV.Thereforewhenabetaparticleofenergy1MeVis completelyabsorbedinthegasthenumberofionpairsproducedis:
Theelectricchargeproducedinthegasistherefore
Ifthecapacitanceoftheionisationchamber(rememberthatwecomparedagasfilleddetectortoacapacitorabove)is100pFthentheamplitudeofthe voltagepulsegeneratedis:
Becausesuchasmallvoltageisgenerateditisnecessarytouseaverysensitiveamplifierintheelectroniccircuitryconnectedtothechamber. Wewillnowlearnabouttwoapplicationsofionisationchambers.Thefirstoneisforthemeasurementofradiationexposures.YouwillrememberfromChapter 4thattheunitofradiationexposure(beittheSIorthetraditionalunit)isdefinedintermsoftheamountofelectricchargeproducedinaunitmassofaair.An ionizationchamberfilledwithairisthenaturalinstrumenttouseforsuchmeasurements. Thesecondapplicationisthemeasurementofradioactivity.Theionisationchamberusedhereisconfiguredinwhatiscalleda reentrantarrangement(see figurebelow)sothatthesampleofradioactivematerialcanbeplacedwithinthedetectorusingaholderandhencemostoftheemittedradiationcanbe detected.Theinstrumentiswidelyreferredtoasan IsotopeCalibratorandthetrickleofelectriccurrentgeneratedbysuchadetectoriscalibratedsothata readinginunitsofradioactivity(forexampleMBqormCi)canbeobtained.MostwellrunNuclearMedicineDepartmentswillhaveatleastoneofthesedevices sothatdosesofradioactivitycanbecheckedpriortoadministrationtopatients.
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Herearesomephotographsofionisationchambersdesignedforvariousapplications:
Anexposureareaproduct detectorusedinradiography.
Arangeofionisation chambersofdifferentvolumes usingformeasuringradiation exposure.
Anexposuremeterusedin radiography.
Anisotopecalibratorusedin nuclearmedicinetheblue cylinderontheleftcontainsthe reentrantchamber.
Anexposuremeterusedin radiography.
AcontemporaryGeiger counter.
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GeigerCounter
WesawearlierthattheGeigerCounteroperatesatrelativelyhighdcvoltages(forexample400900volts)andthatanavalancheofelectronsisgenerated followingtheabsorptionofradiationinthegas.Thevoltagepulsesproducedbythisdetectorarerelativelylargesincethegaseffectivelyactsasanamplifierof theelectricchargeproduced. Therearefourfeaturesofthisdetectorwhichwewilldiscuss.Thefirstisthatasensitiveamplifier(aswasthecasewiththeIonizationChamber)isnot requiredforthisdetectorbecauseofthegasamplificationnotedabove. Thesecondfeatureresultsfromthefactthatthegenerationoftheelectronavalanchemustbestoppedinordertoreformthedetector.Inotherwordswhena radiationparticle/photonisabsorbedbythegasacompletegasbreakdownoccurswhichimpliesthatthegasisincapableofdetectingthenextparticle/photon whichentersthedetector.Sointheextremecaseoneminutewehavearadiationdetectorandthefollowingmomentwedonot. Ameansofstoppingtheelectronavalancheisthereforerequiredaprocesscalled Quenching.Onemeansofdoingthisisbyelectronicallyloweringthedc voltagefollowinganavalanche.Amorewidelyusedmethodofquenchingistoaddasmallamountofa quenchinggastotheinertgas.Forexamplethegas couldbeargonwithethylalcoholadded.Theethylalcoholisinvapourformandsinceitconsistsofrelativelylargemoleculesenergywhichwouldintheir absencegiverisetosustainingtheelectronavalancheisabsorbedbythesemolecules.Thelargemoleculesactlikeabrakeineffect. Irrespectiveofthetypeofquenchingusedthedetectorisinsensitiveforasmallperiodoftimefollowingabsorptionofaradiationparticle/photon.Thisperiodof timeiscalledtheDeadTimeandthisisthethirdfeatureofthisdetectorwhichwewillconsider.Deadtimesarerelativelyshortbutneverthelesssignificant beingtypicallyoftheorderof200400s.Asaresultthereadingobtainedwiththisdetectorislessthanitshouldbe.Thetruereadingwithoutgoingintodetail canbeobtainedusingthefollowingequation:
whereTisthetruereading,Aistheactualreadingandisthedeadtime.Someinstrumentsperformthiscalculationautomatically. Thefourthfeaturetonoteaboutthisdetectoristhedependenceofitsperformanceonthedcvoltage.TheGeigerMllerRegionofourfigureaboveisshown inmoredetailbelow:
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Noticethatitcontainsaplateauwherethecountrateobtainedisindependentofthedcvoltage.Thecentreofthisplateauiswheremostdetectorsare operated.Itisclearthatthecountratefromthedetectorisnotaffectedifthedcvoltagefluctuatesabouttheoperatingvoltage.Thisimpliesthatarelatively straightforwarddcvoltagesupplycanbeused.Thisfeaturecoupledwiththefactthatasensitiveamplifierisnotneededtranslatesinpracticetoarelatively inexpensiveradiationdetector.
ExternalLinks
Insideasmokedetector(http://www.howstuffworks.com/insidesmoke.htm)abouttheionchamberusedinsmokedetectorsfromtheHowStuff Workswebsite. IonisationChambers(http://www.triumf.ca/safety/rpt/rpt_6/node5.html)abriefdescriptionfromtheTriumfSafetyGroup. RadiationandRadioactivity(http://www.umich.edu/~radinfo/introduction/lesson/detector1.htm)aselfpacedlessondevelopedbytheUniversityof Michigan'sStudentChapteroftheHealthPhysicsSocietywithasectionongasfilleddetectors. TheGeigerCounter(http://wwwistp.gsfc.nasa.gov/Education/wgeiger.html)abriefoverviewfromtheNASAGoddardSpaceFlightCenter,USA.
ScintillationDetectors
Thesecondtypeofradiationdetectorwewilldiscussiscalledthescintillationdetector.Scintillationsareminute flashesoflightwhichareproducedbycertainmaterialswhentheyabsorbradiation.Thesematerialsarevariously calledfluorescentmaterials,fluors,scintillatorsorphosphors. Ifwehadaradioactivesourceandascintillatorinthelabwecoulddarkentheroom,movethescintillatorcloseto thesourceandseethescintillations.Thesesmallflashesoflightmightbegreenorblueorsomeothercolour dependingonthescintillator.Wecouldalsocountthenumberofflashesproducedtogainanestimateofthe radioactivityofthesource,thatisthemoreflashesoflightseenthemoreradiationpresent. Thescintillationdetectorwaspossiblythefirstradiationdetectordiscovered.Youmighthaveheardthestoryofthe discoveryofXraysbyWilhelmRoentgenin1895.HewasworkingoneeveninginhislaboratoryinWurzburg, Germanywithadevicewhichfiredabeamofelectronsatatargetinsideanevacuatedglasstube.Whileworkingwiththisdevicehenoticedthatsomeplatino bariumcyanidecrystals,whichhejusthappenedtohavecloseby,begantoglowandthattheystoppedglowingwhenheswitchedthedeviceoff.Roentgen hadaccidentallydiscoveredanewformofradiation.Hehadalsoaccidentallydiscoveredascintillatordetector. Althoughscintillationscanbeseenwehaveamoresophisticatedwayofcountingandmeasuringthemtodaybyusingsomeformofphotodetector. Wewilllearnabouttheconstructionandmodeofoperationofthistypeofdetectorinthischapter.Inaddition,wewillseehowitcanbeusednotjustfor detectingthepresenceofionizingradiationbutalsoformeasuringthe energyofthatradiation.
.
Beforewedohoweveritisusefultonotethatscintillatorsareverywidelyusedinthemedicalradiationsfield.ForexampletheXraycassetteusedin
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Beforewedohoweveritisusefultonotethatscintillatorsareverywidelyusedinthemedicalradiationsfield.ForexampletheXraycassetteusedin radiographycontainsascintillator(calledan intensifyingscreen)inclosecontactwithaphotographicfilm.Asecondexampleisthe XrayImageIntensifier usedinfluoroscopywhichcontainsscintillatorscalledphosphors.ScintillatorsarealsousedinsomeCTScannersandaswewillseeinthenextchapter,inthe GammaCameraandPETScanner.Theirapplicationisnotlimitedtothemedicalradiationsfieldinthatscintillatorsarealsousedasscreensintelevisionsets andcomputermonitorsandforgeneratinglightinfluorescenttubestomentionjusttwocommonapplications.Whatotherapplicationscanyouthinkof? Soscintillatorsarealotmorecommonthanyoumightinitiallythinkandyouwillthereforefindtheinformationpresentedhereusefultoyounotjustforyour studiesofnuclearmedicine.
FluorescentMaterials
Somefluorescentmaterialsarelistedinthefollowingtable.Thalliumactivatedsodiumiodide,NaI(Tl)isacrystallinematerialwhichiswidelyusedforthe detectionofgammaraysinscintillationdetectors.Wewillbelookingatthisinmoredetailbelow. Anothercrystallinematerialsodiumactivatedcaesiumiodide,CsI(Na)iswidelyusedforXraydetectionindevicessuchastheXrayimageintensifier.Another onecalledcalciumtungstate,CaWO4hasbeenwidelyusedinXraycassettesalthoughthissubstancehasbeenreplacedbyotherscintillatorssuchas lanthanumoxybromideinmanymoderncassettes. Noticethatsomescintillationmaterialsareactivatedwithcertainelements.Whatthismeansisthatthe basematerialhasasmallamountoftheactivationelementpresent.Thetermdopedissometimesused insteadof activated.Thisactivatingelementisusedtoinfluencethewavelength(colour)ofthelight producedbythescintillator. Silveractivatedzincsulphideisascintillatorinpowderformandpterphenylintolueneisaliquid scintillator.Theadvantageofsuchformsofscintillatorsisthattheradioactivematerialcanbeplacedin closecontactwiththescintillatingmaterial.Forexampleifaradioactivesamplehappenedtobeinliquid formwecouldmixitwithaliquidscintillatorsoastooptimisethechancesofdetectionoftheemitted radiationandhencehaveaverysensitivedetector. Material NaI(Tl) CsI(Na) CaWO4 ZnS(Ag) pterphenylintoluene Form crystal crystal crystal powder liquid plastic
Afinalexampleispterphenylinpolystyrenewhichisascintillatorintheformofaplastic.Thisformcan pterphenylinpolystyrene beeasilymadeintodifferentshapeslikemostplasticsandisthereforeusefulwhendetectorsofparticular shapesarerequired.
PhotomultiplierTube
Ascintillationcrystalcoupledtoaphotomultipliertube(PMT)isillustratedinthefollowingfigure.Theoveralldeviceistypicallycylindricalinshapeandthe figureshowsacrosssectionthroughthiscylinder:
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Thescintillationcrystal,NaI(Tl)isverydelicateandthisisoneofthereasonsitishousedinanaluminiumcasing.Theinsidewallofthecasingisdesignedso thatanylightwhichstrikesitisreflecteddownwardstowardsthePMT. ThePMTitselfconsistsofaphotocathode,afocussinggrid,anarrayofdynodesandananodehousedinanevacuatedglasstube.Thefunctionofthe photocathodeistoconvertthelightflashesproducedbyradiationattenuationinthescintillationcrystalintoelectrons.Thegridfocusestheseelectronsonto thefirstdynodeandthedynodearrayisusedforelectronmultiplication.Wewillconsiderthisprocessinmoredetailbelow.Finallytheanodecollectsthe electronsproducedbythearrayofdynodes. TheelectricalcircuitrywhichistypicallyattachedtoaPMTisshowninthenextfigure:
L en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Basic_Physics_of_Nuclear_Medicine/Print_version&printable=yes
Itconsistsofahighvoltagesupply,aresistordividerchainandaloadresistor,R .Thehighvoltagesupplygeneratesadcvoltage,V dcwhichcanbeupto
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Itconsistsofahighvoltagesupply,aresistordividerchainandaloadresistor,RL.Thehighvoltagesupplygeneratesadcvoltage,V dcwhichcanbeupto 1,000volts.Itisappliedtotheresistordividerchainwhichconsistsofanarrayofresistors,eachofwhichhasthesameresistance,R.Thefunctionofthis chainofresistorsistodivideupV dcintoequalvoltageswhicharesuppliedtothedynodes.Asaresultvoltageswhichincreaseinequalstepsareappliedto thearrayofdynodes.Theloadresistorisusedsothatanoutputvoltage,V outcanbegenerated. Finallytheoperationofthedeviceisillustratedinthefigurebelow:
Theionizingradiationproducesflashesoflightinthescintillationcrystal.Thislightstrikesthephotocathodeandisconvertedintoelectrons.Theelectronsare directedbythegridontothefirstdynode. Dynodesaremadefromcertainalloyswhichemitelectronswhentheirsurfaceisstruckbyelectronswiththeadvantagethatmoreelectronsareemittedthan areabsorbed.AdynodeusedinaPMTtypicallyemitsbetweentwoandfiveelectronsforeachelectronwhichstrikesit. Sowhenanelectronfromthephotocathodestrikesthefirstdynodebetweentwoandfiveelectronsareemittedandaredirectedtowardstheseconddynodein thearray(threeareillustratedinthefigure).Thiselectronmultiplicationprocessisrepeatedattheseconddynodesothatweendupwithnineelectronsfor exampleheadingtowardsthethirddynode.Anelectronavalanchethereforedevelopssothatasizeablenumberofelectronseventuallyhitstheanodeatthe bottomofthedynodechain. Theseelectronsflowthroughtheloadresistor,RLandconstituteanelectriccurrentwhichaccordingtoOhm'sLawgeneratesavoltage,V outwhichis measuredbyelectroniccircuitry(whichwewilldescribelater). Anumberofphotographsofdevicesbasedonscintillationdetectionareshownbelow:
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ANaIcrystalcoupledtoa photomultipliertube. Anumberofidentical photomultipliertubesfroma GammaCamera.
AnXraycassetteusedin radiography.
Asinglechannelanalyser. Asinglechannelanalyserwith acrystalPMTassembly.
Awelldetector.
The importantfeatureofthescintillationdetectoristhatthisoutputvoltage,V outisdirectlyproportionaltotheenergydepositedbytheradiationinthecrystal. Wewillseewhatausefulfeaturethisisbelow.Beforewedosowewillbrieflyanalyzetheoperationofthisdevice.
MathematicalModel
Asimplemathematicalmodelwillbepresentedbelowwhichwillhelpusgetabetterhandleontheperformanceofascintillationdetector.Wewilldothisby 59/97
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Asimplemathematicalmodelwillbepresentedbelowwhichwillhelpusgetabetterhandleontheperformanceofascintillationdetector.Wewilldothisby quantifyingtheperformanceofthescintillator,thephotocathodeandthedynodes. Let'susethefollowingsymbolstocharacterizeeachstageofthedetectionprocess: m:numberoflightphotonsproducedincrystal k:opticalefficiencyofthecrystal,thatistheefficiencywithwhichthecrystaltransmitslight l:quantumefficiencyofthephotocathode,thatistheefficiencywithwhichthephotocathodeconvertslightphotonstoelectrons n:numberofdynodes R:dynodemultiplicationfactor,thatisthenumberofsecondaryelectronsemittedbyadynodeperprimaryelectronabsorbed. Thereforethechargecollectedattheanodeisgivenbythefollowingequation:
where e:theelectroniccharge. Forexamplesupposinga100keVgammarayisabsorbedinthecrystal.Thenumberoflightphotonsproduced,m,mightbeabout1,000foratypical scintillationcrystal.Atypicalcrystalmighthaveanopticalefficiency,k,of0.5inotherwords50%ofthelightproducedreachesthephotocathodewhichmight haveaquantumefficiencyof0.15.AtypicalPMThastendynodesandletusassumethatthedynodemultiplicationfactoris4.5. Therefore
Thisamountofchargeisverysmall.EventhoughwehaveusedasophisticatedphotodetectorlikeaPMTwestillendupwithquiteasmallelectricalsignal. Averysensitiveamplifieristhereforeneededtoamplifythissignal.Thistypeofamplifierisgenerallycalleda preamplifierandwewillrefertoitagainlater.
OutputVoltage
Wenotedabovethatthevoltagemeasuredacrosstheresistor,RL,isproportionaltotheenergydepositedinthescintillationcrystalbytheradiation.Letus considerhowtheradiationmightdeposititsenergyinthecrystal.
Letusconsiderasituationwheregammaraysaredetectedbythecrystal.WelearntinChapter5thatthereweretwointeractionmechanismsinvolvedin
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Letusconsiderasituationwheregammaraysaredetectedbythecrystal.WelearntinChapter5thatthereweretwointeractionmechanismsinvolvedin gammarayattenuationthePhotoelectricEffectandtheComptonEffect.YouwillrememberthatthePhotoelectricEffectinvolvesthetotalabsorptionofthe energyofagammaray,whiletheComptonEffectinvolvesjustpartialabsorptionofthisenergy.Sincetheoutputvoltageofascintillationdetectoris proportionaltotheenergydepositedbythegammaraysitisreasonabletoexpectthatPhotoelectricEffectsinthecrystalwillgeneratedistinctandrelatively largeoutputvoltagesandthatComptonEffectswillresultinloweroutputvoltages. Theusualwayofpresentingthisinformationisbyplottingagraphofthecountrateversustheoutputvoltagepulseheightasshowninthefollowingfigure:
Thisplotillustrateswhatisobtainedforamonoenergeticgammaemittingradioisotope,forexample 99mTcwhich,aswehavenotedbeforeemitsasingle gammaraywithanenergyof140keV. Beforewelookatitindetailrememberthatwenotedabovethattheoutputvoltagefromthisdetectorisproportionaltotheenergydepositedbytheradiation inthecrystal.Thehorizontalaxiscanthereforebeusedtorepresenttheoutputvoltageorthegammarayenergy.Bothofthesequantitiesareshowninthe figuretohelpwiththisdiscussion.Inadditionnotethatthisplotisoftencalleda GammaRayEnergySpectrum. Thefigureabovecontainstworegions.Onecalledthe Photopeakandtheothercalledthe ComptonSmear.ThePhotopeakresultsbecauseofPhotoelectric absorptionofthegammaraysfromtheradioactivesourcerememberthatwearedealingwithamonoenergeticemitterinthisexample.Itconsistsofapeak representingthegammarayenergy(140keVinourexample).Ifourradioisotopeemittedgammaraysoftwoenergieswewouldhavetwophotopeaksinour spectrumandsoon. Noticethatthepeakhasastatisticalspread.Thishastodowithhowgoodourdetectorisandwewillnotgetintoanydetailaboutithereotherthantonote thattheextentofthisspreadisameasureofthequalityofourdetector.Ahighquality(andmoreexpensive!)detectorwillhaveanarrowerstatisticalspreadin thephotopeakswhichitmeasures. TheothercomponentofourspectrumistheComptonSmear.ItrepresentsarangeofoutputvoltageswhicharelowerthanthatforthePhotopeak.Itis thereforeindicativeofthepartialabsorptionoftheenergyofgammaraysinthecrystal.InsomeComptonEffectsasubstantialscatteringwithavalance electroncanoccurwhichgivesrisetorelativelylargevoltagepulses.InotherComptonEffectsthegammarayjustgrazesoffavalanceelectronwithminimal energytransferandhencearelativelysmallvoltagepulseisgenerated.Inbetweenthesetwoextremesarearangeofscatteringeventsinvolvingarangeof energytransfersandhencearangeofvoltagepulseheights.A'smear'thereforemanifestsitselfonthegammarayenergyspectrum. Itisimportanttonotethatthespectrumillustratedinthefigureissimplifiedforthesakeofthisintroductorydiscussionandthatactualspectraarealittlemore complexseefigurebelowforanexample:
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Youwillfindthoughthatyourunderstandingofactualspectracaneasilydeveloponthebasisofthesimplepicturewehavepaintedhere. Itisalsoimportanttoappreciatetheadditionalinformationwhichthistypeofradiationdetectorprovidesrelativetoagasfilleddetector.Inessencegasfilled detectorscanbeusedtotellusifanyradiationispresentaswellastheamountofthatradiation.Scintillationdetectorsalsogiveusthisinformationbutthey tellusaboutthe energyofthisradiationaswell.Thisadditionalinformationcanbeusedformanydiverseapplicationssuchastheidentificationofunknown radioisotopesandtheproductionofnuclearmedicineimages.Letusstayalittlebitlongerthoughwiththefundamentalfeaturesofhowscintillationdetectors work. ThephotopeakoftheGammaRayEnergySpectrumisgenerallyofinterestinnuclearmedicine.Thispeakisthemainsignatureoftheradioisotopebeing usedanditsisolationfromtheComptonSmearisnormallyachievedusingatechniquecalled PulseHeightAnalysis.
PulseHeightAnalysis
Thisisanelectronictechniquewhichallowsaspectrumtobeacquiredusingtwotypesofcircuitry.Onecircuitiscalleda LowerLevelDiscriminatorwhich onlyallowsvoltagespulsesthroughitwhicharelowerthanitssetting.Theotheriscalledan UpperLevelDiscriminatorwhichonlyallowsvoltagepulses thoughwhichare(youguessedit!)higherthanitssetting. Theresultofusingboththesecircuitsincombinationisavariablewidthwindowwhichcanbeplacedanywherealongaspectrum.Forexampleifwewishedto obtaininformationfromthephotopeakonlyofoursimplifiedspectrumwewouldplacethediscriminationcontrolsasshowninthefollowingfigure:
Afinalpointtonotehereisthatsincethescintillationdetectoriswidelyusedtoobtaininformationabouttheenergiesoftheradiationemittedfroma radioactivesourceitisfrequentlyreferredtoasa ScintillationSpectrometer.

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ScintillationSpectrometer
Typesofscintillationspectrometerfallintotwobasiccategoriestherelativelystraightforward SingleChannelAnalyserandthemoresophisticated Multi ChannelAnalyser. TheSingleChannelAnalyseristhetypeofinstrumentwehavebeendescribingsofarinthisdiscussion.Ablockdiagramoftheinstrumentisshownbelow:
Itconsistsofascintillationcrystalcoupledtoaphotomultipliertubewhichispoweredbyahighvoltagecircuit(H.V.).Theoutputvoltagesareinitiallyamplified byasensitivepreamplifier(PreAmp)aswenotedabovebeforebeingamplifiedfurtherandconditionedbytheamplifier(Amp). Thevoltagepulsesaretheninasuitableformforthepulseheightanalyser(P.H.A. )theoutputpulsesfromwhichcanbefedtoa Scaleranda Ratemeter fordisplayoftheinformationabouttheportionofthespectrumwehaveallowedtopassthroughthePHA.TheRatemeterisadisplaydevicejustlikethe speedometerinacarandindicatesthenumberofpulsesgeneratedperunittime.TheScalerontheotherhandusuallyconsistsofadigitaldisplaywhich showsthenumberofvoltagepulsesproducedinaspecifiedperiodoftime. WecanillustratetheoperationofthiscircuitrybyconsideringhowitmightbeusedtogenerateaGammaRayEnergySpectrum.Whatwewoulddoissetup theLLDandULDsoastodefineanarrowwindowandplacethistopassthelowestvoltagepulsesproducedbythedetectorthroughtotheScalerand Ratemeter.Inotherwordswewouldplaceanarrowwindowattheextremeleftofthespectrumandacquireinformationaboutthelowestenergygammaray interactionsinthecrystal.WewouldthenadjusttheLLDandULDsettingstoacquireinformationabouttheinteractionsofthenexthighestenergy.Wewould proceedinthisfashiontoscanthewholespectrum. Amoresophisticateddetectorcircuitisillustratedinthefollowingfigure:
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ItisquitesimilartothatinthepreviousfigurewiththeexceptionthatthePHA,ScalerandRatemeterarereplacedbyaMultiChannelAnalyseranda computer.TheMultiChannelAnalyser(MCA)isacircuitwhichiscapableofsettingupalargenumberofindividualwindowstolookatacompletespectrumin onego.TheMCAmightconsistof1024individualwindowsforexampleandthecomputermightconsistofapersonalcomputerwhichcanacquireinformation simultaneouslyfromeachwindowanddisplayitasanenergyspectrum.Thecomputergenerallycontainssoftwarewhichallowsustomanipulatetheresultant informationinavarietyofways.Indeedthe 137Csspectrumshownabovewasgeneratedusingthisapproach.
ExternalLinks
RadiationandRadioactivity(http://www.umich.edu/~radinfo/introduction/lesson/naidetector.htm)aselfpacedlessondevelopedbytheUniversityof Michigan'sStudentChapteroftheHealthPhysicsSociety,withasectiononsodiumiodidedetectors.
NuclearMedicineImagingSystems
Topicswehavecoveredinthiswikibookhaveincludedradioactivity,theinteractionofgammarayswithmatterandradiationdetection.Themainreasonfor followingthispathwaywastobringustothesubjectofthischapter:nuclearmedicineimagingsystems.Thesearedeviceswhichproducepicturesofthe distributionofradioactivematerialfollowingadministrationtoapatient.
Theradioactivityisgenerallyadministeredtothepatientintheformofaradiopharmaceuticaltheterm radiotracerisalsoused.Thisfollowssome
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Theradioactivityisgenerallyadministeredtothepatientintheformofaradiopharmaceuticaltheterm radiotracerisalsoused.Thisfollowssome physiologicalpathwaytoaccumulateforashortperiodoftimeinsomepartofthebody.Agoodexampleis 99mTctincolloidwhichfollowingintravenous injectionaccumulatesmainlyinthepatient'sliver.Thesubstanceemitsgammarayswhileitisinthepatient'sliverandwecanproduceanimageofits distributionusinganuclearmedicineimagingsystem.Thisimagecantelluswhetherthefunctionoftheliverisnormalorabnormalorifsectionsofitare damagedfromsomeformofdisease. Differentradiopharmaceuticalsareusedtoproduceimagesfromalmosteveryregionofthebody: PartoftheBody Brain Thyroid Lung(Ventilation) Lung(Perfusion) Liver Spleen Pancreas Kidneys ExampleRadiotracer
99mTcHMPAO
Na99mTcO4
133Xegas 99mTcMAA 99mTcTinColloid 99mTcDamagedRedBloodCells 75SeSelenomethionine 99mTcDMSA .
Notethattheformofinformationobtainedusingthisimagingmethodismainlyrelatedtothephysiologicalfunctioningofanorganasopposedtothemainly anatomicalinformationwhichisobtainedusingXrayimagingsystems.Nuclearmedicinethereforeprovidesadifferentperspectiveonadiseaseconditionand generatesadditionalinformationtothatobtainedfromXrayimages.Ourpurposehereistoconcentrateontheimagingsystemsusedtoproducetheimages. Earlyformsofimagingsystemusedinthisfieldconsistedofaradiationdetector(ascintillationdetectorforexample)whichwasscannedslowlyoveraregion ofthepatientinordertomeasuretheradiationintensityemittedfromindividualpointswithintheregion.OnesuchdevicewascalledtheRectilinearScanner. Suchimagingsystemshavebeenreplacedsincethe1970sbymoresophisticateddeviceswhichproduceimagesmuchmorerapidly.Themostcommonof thesemoderndevicesiscalledtheGammaCameraandwewillconsideritsconstructionandmodeofoperationbelow.Areviewofrecentdevelopmentsin thistechnologyforcardiacapplicationscanbefoundinSlomkaetal(2009)[1].

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GammaCamera
ThebasicdesignofthemostcommontypeofgammacamerausedtodaywasdevelopedbyanAmericanphysicist,HalAngerandisthereforesometimes calledtheAngerCamera.ItconsistsofalargediameterNaI(Tl)scintillationcrystalwhichisviewedbyalargenumberofphotomultipliertubes. Ablockdiagramofthebasiccomponentsofagammacameraisshownbelow:
Blockdiagramofagammacamera
ThecrystalandPMTubesarehousedinacylindricalshapedhousingcommonlycalledthe cameraheadandacrosssectionalviewofthisisshowninthe figure.Thecrystalcanbebetweenabout25cmand40cmindiameterandabout1cmthick.Thediameterisdependentontheapplicationofthedevice.For examplea25cmdiametercrystalmightbeusedforacameradesignedforcardiacapplicationswhilealarger40cmcrystalwouldbeusedforproducing imagesofthelungs.Thethicknessofthecrystalischosensothatitprovidesgooddetectionforthe140keVgammaraysemittedfrom 99mTcwhichisthe mostcommonradioisotopeusedtoday. ScintillationsproducedinthecrystalaredetectedbyalargenumberofPMtubeswhicharearrangedinatwodimensionalarray.Thereistypicallybetween37 and91PMtubesinmoderngammacameras.TheoutputvoltagesgeneratedbythesePMtubesarefedtoapositioncircuitwhichproducesfouroutput signalscalledXandY.Thesepositionsignalscontaininformationaboutwherethescintillationswereproducedwithinthecrystal.Inthemostbasicgamma
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cameradesigntheyarefedtoacathoderayoscilloscope(CRO).WewilldescribetheoperationoftheCROinmoredetailbelow. Beforewedosoweshouldnotethatthepositionsignalsalsocontaininformationabouttheintensityofeachscintillation.Thisintensityinformationcanbe derivedfromthepositionsignalsbyfeedingthemtoasummationcircuit(markedinthefigure)whichaddsupthefourpositionsignalstogenerateavoltage pulsewhichrepresentstheintensityofascintillation.Thisvoltagepulseiscommonlycalledthe Zpulse(orzeepulseinAmericanEnglish!)whichfollowing pulseheightanalysis(PHA)isfedasthe unblankpulsetotheCRO. SoweendupwithfourpositionsignalsandanunblankpulsesenttotheCRO.LetusbrieflyreviewtheoperationofaCRObeforewecontinue.Thecoreofa CROconsistsofanevacuatedtubewithanelectrongunatoneendandaphosphorcoatedscreenattheotherend.Theelectrongungeneratesanelectron beamwhichisdirectedatthescreenandthescreenemitslightatthosepointsstruckbytheelectronbeam.Thepositionoftheelectronbeamcanbe controlledbyverticalandhorizontaldeflectionplatesandwiththeappropriatevoltagesfedtotheseplatestheelectronbeamcanbepositionedatanypointon thescreen.Thenormalmodeofoperationofanoscilloscopeisfortheelectronbeamtoremainswitchedon.Inthecaseofthegammacameratheelectron beamoftheCROisnormallyswitchedoffitissaidtobe blanked. WhenanunblankpulseisgeneratedbythePHAcircuittheelectronbeamoftheCROisswitchedonforabriefperiodoftimesoastodisplayaflashoflight onthescreen.InotherwordsthevoltagepulsefromthePHAcircuitisusedtounblanktheelectronbeamoftheCRO. SowheredoesthisflashoflightoccuronthescreenoftheCRO?ThepositionoftheflashoflightisdictatedbytheXandYsignalsgeneratedbythe positioncircuit.ThesesignalsasyoumighthaveguessedarefedtothedeflectionplatesoftheCROsoastocausetheunblankedelectronbeamtostrikethe screenatapointrelatedtowherethescintillationwasoriginallyproducedintheNaI(Tl)crystal.Simple! Thegammacameracanthereforebeconsideredtobeasophisticatedarrangementofelectroniccircuitsusedtotranslatethepositionofaflashoflightina scintillationcrystaltoaflashoflightatarelatedpointonthescreenofanoscilloscope.Inadditiontheuseofapulseheightanalyserinthecircuitryallowsus totranslatethescintillationsrelatedonlytophotoelectriceventsinthecrystalbyrejectingallvoltagepulsesexceptthoseoccurringwithinthephotopeakofthe gammarayenergyspectrum. Letus summarisewherewehavegottobeforeweproceed.Aradiopharmaceuticalisadministeredtothepatientanditaccumulatesintheorganofinterest. Gammaraysareemittedinalldirectionsfromtheorganandthoseheadinginthedirectionofthegammacameraenterthecrystalandproducescintillations (notethatthereisadeviceinfrontofthecrystalcalleda collimatorwhichwewilldiscusslater).ThescintillationsaredetectedbyanarrayofPMtubeswhose outputsarefedtoapositioncircuitwhichgeneratesfourvoltagepulsesrelatedtothepositionofascintillationwithinthecrystal.Thesevoltagepulsesarefed tothedeflectioncircuitryoftheCRO.Theyarealsofedtoasummationcircuitwhoseoutput(theZpulse)isfedtothePHAandtheoutputofthePHAisused toswitchon(thatis,unblank)theelectronbeamoftheCRO.AflashoflightappearsonthescreenoftheCROatapointrelatedtowherethescintillation occurredwithintheNaI(Tl)crystal.AnimageofthedistributionoftheradiopharmaceuticalwithintheorganisthereforeformedonthescreenoftheCROwhen thegammaraysemittedfromtheorganaredetectedbythecrystal. Whatwehavedescribedaboveistheoperationofafairlytraditionalgammacamera.Moderndesignsareagooddealmorecomplexbutthebasicdesignhas remainedmuchthesameashasbeendescribed.Oneareawheremajordesignimprovementshaveoccurredistheareaofimageformationanddisplay.The mostbasicapproachtoimageformationistophotographthescreenoftheCROoveraperiodoftimetoallowintegrationofthelightflashestoformanimage onphotographicfilm.Astageupfromthisistouseastorageoscilloscopewhichallowseachflashoflighttoremainonthescreenforareasonableperiodof time. Themostmodernapproachistofeedthepositionandenergysignalsintothememorycircuitryofacomputerforstorage.Thememorycontentscantherefore bedisplayedonacomputermonitorandcanalsobemanipulated(thatis processed)inmanyways.Forexamplevariouscolourscanbeusedtorepresent differentconcentrationsofaradiopharmaceuticalwithinanorgan.
Theuseofdigitalimageprocessingisnowwidespreadinnuclearmedicineinthatitcanbeusedtorapidlyandconvenientlycontrolimageacquisitionand en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Basic_Physics_of_Nuclear_Medicine/Print_version&printable=yes
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Theuseofdigitalimageprocessingisnowwidespreadinnuclearmedicineinthatitcanbeusedtorapidlyandconvenientlycontrolimageacquisitionand displayaswellastoanalyseanimageorsequencesofimages,toannotateimageswiththepatient'snameandexaminationdetails,tostoretheimagesfor subsequentretrievalandtocommunicatetheimagedatatoothercomputersoveranetwork. Theessentialelementsofamoderngammacameraareshowninthenextfigure.Gammaraysemittedbythepatientpassthroughthecollimatorandare detectedwithinthecamerahead,whichgeneratesdatarelatedtothelocationofscintillationsinthecrystalaswellastotheenergyofthegammarays.This dataisthenprocessedontheflybyelectronichardwarewhichcorrectsfortechnicalfactorssuchasspatiallinearity,PMtubedriftandenergyresponsesoas toproduceanimagingsystemwithaspatiallyuniformsensitivityanddistortionfreeperformance. Amultichannelanalyzer(MCA)isusedtodisplaytheenergyspectrumofgammarayswhichinteractinsidethecrystal.Sincethesegammaraysoriginatefrom withinthepatient,someofthemwillhaveanenergylowerthanthephotopeakasaresultofbeingscatteredastheytravelthroughthepatient'stissuesand byothercomponentssuchasthepatienttableandstructuresoftheimagingsystem.Someofthesescatteringeventsmayinvolvejustglancinginteractions withfreeelectrons,sothatthegammaraysloseonlyasmallamountofenergy.Thesegammaraysmayhaveanenergyjustbelowthatofthephotopeakso thattheirspectrummergeswiththephotopeak.Thephotopeakforagammacameraimagingapatientthereforecontainsinformationfromspatiallycorrelated, unattenuatedgammarays(whichistheinformationwewant)andfromspatiallyuncorrelated,scatteredgammarays.Thescatteredgammaraysactlikea variablebackgroundwithinthetruephotopeakdataandtheeffectisthatofabackgroundhazeingammacameraimages.
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Essentialelementsofamoderngammacamera.MCA:MultiChannelAnalyzer
Whilescattermaynotbeasignificantprobleminplanarscintigraphy,ithasastrongbearingonthefidelityofquantitativeinformationderivedfromgamma cameraimagesandisavitalconsiderationforaccurateimagereconstructioninemissiontomography.Itistheunattenuatedgammarays(alsocalledthe primaryradiation)thatcontainthedesiredinformation,becauseoftheirdirectdependenceonradioactivity. Thescattersituationisillustratedinmoredetailinthefigurebelow,whichshowsestimatesoftheprimaryandscatterspectrafor 99mTcinpatientimaging conditions.SuchspectralestimatescanbegeneratedusingMonteCarlomethods.Itisseeninthefigurethattheenergyofthescatteredradiationformsa broadband,similartotheComptonSmeardescribedpreviously,whichmergesintoandcontributessubstantiallytothedetectedphotopeak.Thedetected photopeakisthereforeanoverestimateoftheprimaryradiation.Theextentofthisoverestimateislikelytobedependentonthespecificimagingsituation becauseofthedifferentthicknessesoftissuesinvolved.Itisclearhoweverthatthescattercontributionwithinthedetectedphotopeakneedstobeaccounted forifanaccuratemeasureofradioactivityisrequired.
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Detectedgammarayenergyspectrumfor99mTc(green)withestimatesofthe scatter(blue)andprimary(red)components.
Onemethodofcompensatingforthescattercontributionisillustratedinthefigurebelowandinvolvesusingdatafromalowerenergywindowasanestimate forsubtractionfromthephotopeak,i.e. PrimaryCounts=PhotopeakWindowCountsk(ScatterWindowCounts) wherekisascalingfactortoaccountfortheextentofthescattercontribution.Thisapproachtoscattercompensationisreferredtoasthe DualEnergy Window(DEW)method.Itcanbeimplementedinpracticebyacquiringtwoimages,oneforeachenergywindow,andsubtractingafraction(k)ofthescatter imagefromthephotopeakimage. Forthespectrumshownabove,itcanbeseenthatthescalingfactor,k,isabout0.5,butitshouldbeappreciatedthatitsexactvalueisdependentonthe scatteringconditions.GammacameraswhichusetheDEWmethodthereforegenerallyprovidethecapabilityofadjustingkfordifferentimagingsituations. Somesystemsuseanarrowerscatterwindowthanthatillustrated,e.g.114126keV,withaconsequentincreaseinktoabout1.0,forinstance. Ahostofothermethodsofscattercompensationhavealsobeendeveloped.Theseincludemorecomplexformsofenergyanalysissuchasthe Dual Photopeakandthe TripleEnergyWindowtechniques,aswellasapproachesbasedondeconvolutionandmodelsofphotonattenuation.Anexcellent reviewofthesedevelopmentsisprovidedinZaidi&Koral(2004)(http://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&cluster=9162820602187203874).
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Gammarayenergyspectrumfor99mTc,withenergydiscriminationsettingsof92 126keVforscatterestimation(blue)andof126154keV,centredon140keV,for thephotopeak(red).
Somephotographsofgammacamerasandrelateddevicesareshownbelow:
Asingleheadedgamma camera.
Anothersingleheadedgamma camera.
TheNaIcrystalofagamma camera.
Thecathoderayoscilloscope (CRO)ofagammacamera.
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Theimageprocessingsystemof agammacamera.
Adualheadedgammacamera.
Anotherviewofadualheaded gammacamera.
Theimageacquisitionand processingconsoleofadual headedgammacamera.
Wewillcontinuewithourdescriptionofthegammacamerabyconsideringtheconstructionandpurposeofthecollimator.
Collimation
Thecollimatorisadevicewhichisattachedtothefrontofthegammacamerahead.Itfunctionssomethinglikealensusedinaphotographiccamerabutthis analogyisnotquitecorrectbecauseitisratherdifficulttofocusgammarays.Neverthelessinitssimplestformitisusedtoblockoutallgammarayswhichare headingtowardsthecrystalexceptthosewhicharetravellingatrightanglestotheplaneofthecrystal:
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Diagramofparallelholecollimatorattachedtoacrystalofagamma camera.Obliquelyincidentgammaraysareabsorbedbythesepta.
Thefigureillustratesamagnifiedviewofa parallelholecollimatorattachedtoacrystal.Thecollimatorsimplyconsistsofalargenumberofsmallholes drilledinaleadplate.Noticethatgammaraysenteringatanangletothecrystalgetabsorbedbytheleadandthatonlythoseenteringalongthedirectionof theholesgetthroughtocausescintillationsinthecrystal.Ifthecollimatorwasnotinplacetheseobliquelyincidentgammarayswouldblurtheimages producedbythegammacamera.Inotherwordstheimageswouldnotbeveryclear. Mostgammacamerashaveanumberofcollimatorswhichcanbefitteddependingontheexamination.Thebasicdesignofthesecollimatorsisthesame exceptthattheyvaryintermsofthediameterofeachhole,thedepthofeachholeandthethicknessofleadbetweeneachhole(commonlycalledthe septum thickness).Thechoiceofaspecificcollimatorisdependentontheamountofradiationabsorptionthatoccurs(whichinfluencesthe sensitivityofthegamma camera),andtheclarityofimages(thatisthe spatialresolution)itproduces.Unfortunatelythesetwofactorsareinverselyrelatedinthattheuseofa collimatorwhichproducesimagesofgoodspatialresolutiongenerallyimpliesthattheinstrumentisnotverysensitivetoradiation. Othercollimatordesignsbesidetheparallelholetypearealsoinuse.Forexamplea divergingholecollimatorproducesaminifiedimageand converging holeand pinholecollimatorsproduceamagnifiedimage.Thepinholecollimatorisillustratedinthefollowingfigure:
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Diagramofapinholecollimatorillustratingtheinversionofacquired images.
Itistypicallyaconeshapeddevicewithitswallsmadefromlead.Acrosssectionthroughthisconeisshowninthefigure.Itoperatesinasimilarfashiontoa pinholephotographiccameraandproducesaninvertedimageofanobjectanarrowisusedinthefiguretoillustratethisinversion.Thistypeofcollimator hasbeenfoundusefulforimagingsmallobjectssuchasthethyroidgland.
ExampleImages
Arepresentativeselectionofnuclearmedicineimagesisshownbelow:
ASPECTsliceofthe distributionof99mTc Ceretecwithina patient'sbrain. ASPECTslicethrough apatient'sliver.
Imagesfromapatient's bonescan.
APETsliceofa patient'sbrain,witha regionofinterestdrawn toindicatetheskin surface.
Imagesfroma ventilation(V)and perfusion(Q)scanofa patient'slungs.
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Aseriesofplanar imagesacquiredevery 10secondsduringa renogramofapatient withastoneblocking theirrightkidney.
Selectedimagesfroma renogramseries.
Agraphicaldisplay showingthenumberof countsineachkidney versustimefora renogram.
ASPECTsliceofa patient'sheart.
Abloodpoolstudy coveringthewholebody ofapatient.
AseriesfromaSPECT studyofapatient's brain.
ImagesfromaSPECT studyofapatient's heart.
Athyroiduptakestudy. Agastricemptyingstudy evaluatingapatient's digestivesystem. A201Tlstudyofthe wholebodyofapatient.
EmissionTomography
Theformofimagingwhichwehavebeendescribingiscalled PlanarImaging.Itproducesatwodimensionalimageofathreedimensionalobject.Asaresult imagescontainnodepthinformationandsomedetailscanbesuperimposedontopofeachotherandobscuredorpartiallyobscuredasaresult.Notethatthis isalsoafeatureofconventionalXrayimaging. Theusualwayoftryingtoovercomethislimitationistotakeatleasttwoviewsofthepatient,onefromthefrontandonefromthesideforexample.Soin chestradiographyaposterioanterior(PA)andalateralviewcanbetaken.Andinanuclearmedicineliverscanananteroposterior(AP)andlateralscanare acquired. ThislimitationofplanarXrayimagingwasovercomebythedevelopmentoftheCATScannerabout1970orthereabouts.CATstandsforComputerizedAxial TomographyorComputerAssistedTomographyandtodaythetermisoftenshortenedtoComputedTomographyorCTscanning(thetermtomographycomes fromtheGreekword tomosmeaning slice).Irrespectiveofitsexactnamethetechniqueallowsimagesofslicesthroughthebodytobeproducedusinga
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computer.ItdoesthisinessencebytakingXrayimagesatanumberofanglesaroundthepatient.Thesesliceimagesshowthethirddimensionwhichis missingfromplanarimagesandthuseliminatetheproblemofsuperimposeddetails.Furthermoreimagesofanumberofsuccessiveslicesthrougharegionof thepatientcanbestackedontopofeachotherusingthecomputertoproduceathreedimensionalimage.ClearlyCTscanningisaverypowerfulimaging techniquerelativetoplanarimaging. Theequivalentnuclearmedicineimagingtechniqueiscalled EmissionComputedTomography.Wewillconsidertwoimplementationsofthistechnique below. SinglePhotonEmissionComputedTomography(SPECT) ThisSPECTtechniqueusesagammacameratorecordimagesataseriesofanglesaroundthepatient.Theseimagesarethensubjectedtoaformof digitalimageprocessingcalledImageReconstructioninordertocomputeimagesofslicesthroughthepatient. TheBackProjectionreconstructionprocessisillustratedbelow.Letusassumeforsimplicitythattheslicethroughthepatientactuallyconsistsofa2x2 voxelarraywiththeradioactivityineachvoxelgivenbyA1...A4:
Illustrationoftheacquisitionoffourprojectionsaroundthepatient, P1...P4
Thefirstprojection,P1,isimagedfromtherightandthesecondprojection,P2,fromtherightobliqueandsoon.Thebackprojectionprocessinvolves firstlyaddingtheprojectionstoeachotherasshownbelow:
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Illustrationofthebackprojectioncomputationprocess.
andthennormalisingthesummed(orsuperimposed)projectionstogenerateanestimateoftheradioactivityineachvoxel.Sincethisprocesscan generatestreakingartefactsinreconstructedimages,theprojectionsaregenerallyfilteredpriortobackprojection,asdescribedinalaterchapter,with theoverallprocessreferredtoasFilteredBackProjection(FBP):
Illustrationofthefilteredbackprojectioncomputationprocess.
AnalternativeimagereconstructiontechniqueiscalledIterativeReconstruction.Thisisasuccessiveapproximationtechniqueasillustratedbelow:
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Projection
Patient
AdditiveIterativeReconstruction
P1
Firstestimateofimagematrix.
P2
Secondestimateofimagematrix.
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P3
Thirdestimateofimagematrix.
P4
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Fourthestimateofimagematrix.
Thefirstestimateoftheimagematrixismadebydistributingthefirstprojection,P1,evenlythroughanemptypixelmatrix.Thesecondprojection,P2, iscomparedtothesameprojectionfromtheestimatedmatrixandthedifferencebetweenactualandestimatedprojectionsisaddedtotheestimated matrix.Theprocessisrepeatedforallotherprojections. TheMaximumLikelihoodExpectationMaximisation(MLEM)algorithmisarefinementtothisiterativeapproachwhereadivisionprocessisusedto comparetheactualandestimatedprojections,asshownbelow:
IllustrationoftheMaximumLikelihoodExpectationMaximisation(MLEM)algorithm.
Onecycleofdatathroughthisprocessingchainisreferredtoasone iteration.Sixteenormoreiterationscanberequiredinordertogeneratean adequatereconstructionand,asaresult,computationtimescanberatherlong.TheOrderedSubsetsExpectationMaximisation(OSEM)algorithm

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canbeusedtosubstantiallyreducethecomputationtimebyutilisingalimitednumberofprojections(called subsets)inasequentialfashionwithinthe iterativeprocess.Noisegeneratedduringthereconstructionprocesscanbereduced,forexample,usingaGaussianfilterbuiltintothereconstruction calculationsorappliedasapostfilter:
IllustrationofanIterativeReconstructionprocess.
Acomparisonoftheseimagereconstructiontechniquesisshownbelowforaslicethroughaventilationscanofapatient'slungs:
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Thegammacameraistypicllyrotatedaroundthepatientinordertoacquiretheimages.Moderngammacameraswhicharedesignedspecificallyfor SPECTscanningcanconsistoftwocameraheadsmountedparalleltoeachotherwiththepatientinbetween.Thetimerequiredtoproduceimagesis thereforereducedbyafactorofabouttwo.InadditionsomeSPECTgammacamerasdesignedforbrainscanninghavethreecameraheadsmounted inatriangulararrangement. AwidevarietyofstrategiescanbeusedfortheacquisitionandprocessingofSPECTimages. PositronEmissionTomography(PET) Youwillrememberfromchapter2thatpositronscanbeemittedfromradioactivenucleiwhichhavetoomanyneutronsforstability.Youwillalso rememberthatpositronsdonotlastforverylonginmattersincetheywillquicklyencounteranelectronandaprocesscalled annihilationresults.In theprocessthepositronandelectronvanishandtheirenergyisconvertedintotwogammarayswhichareemittedatroughly180odegreestoeach
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other.Theemissionisoftenreferredtoastwo backtobackgammaraysandtheyeachhaveadiscreteenergyof0.51MeV. Soifweadministerapositronemittingradiopharmaceuticaltoapatientanemittedpositronscanannihilatewithanearbyelectronandtwogammarays willbeemittedinoppositedirections.Thesegammarayscanbedetectedusingaringofradiationdetectorsencirclingthepatientandtomographic imagescanbegeneratedusingacomputersystem.Thedetectorsaretypicallyspecialisedscintillationdeviceswhichareoptimisedfordetectionofthe 0.51MeVgammarays.Thisringofdetectors,associatedapparatusandcomputersystemarecalledaPETScanner:
Thelocationsofpositrondecayswithinthepatientarehighlightedbythesolidcirclesintheabovediagram.Inadditiononlyafewdetectorsareshown inthediagramforreasonsofclarity.Eachdetectoraroundtheringisoperatedincoincidencewithabankofopposingdetectorsandtheannihilation gammaraysthusdetectedareusedtobuildupasingleprofile. IthasalsobeenfoundthatgammacamerasfittedwiththickcrystalsandspecialcollimatorscanbeusedforPETscanning. TheradioisotopesusedforPETscanninginclude 11C, 13N, 15Oand 18F.Theseisotopesareusuallyproducedusinganinstrumentcalledacyclotron. Inadditiontheseisotopeshaverelativelyshorthalflives.PETscanningthereforeneedsacyclotronandassociatedradiopharmaceuticalproduction facilitieslocatedcloseby.Wewillconsidercyclotronsinthenextchapterofthiswikibook. StandardizedUptakeValue(SUV )isasemiquantitativeindexusedinPETtoexpresstheuptakeofaradiopharmaceuticalinaregionofinterestofa patient'sscan.Itstypicallycalculatedastheratiooftheradioactivityintheregiontotheinjecteddose,correctedforbodyweight.Itshouldbenoted thattheSUVisinfluencedbyseveralmajorsourcesofvariabilityanditthereforeshouldnotbeusedasaquantitativemeasure. AnumberofphotographsofaPETscannerareshownbelow:
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Thedetectorsandassociatedelectronic circuitry.
Thescanneritselfthedetectorsare underthecoveringpanel.
Anotherviewofthedetectors.
Theimageprocessingcomputer.
References
1. SlomkaPJ,PattonJA,BermanDS&GermanoG,2009.AdvancesintechnicalaspectsofmyocardialperfusionSPECTimaging(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19242769).
JournalofNuclearCardiology,16(2),25576.
ExternalLinks
CentreforPositronEmissionTomography(http://www.petnm.unimelb.edu.au/)attheAustin&RepatriationMedicalCentre,Melbournewithsections onwhatPETis,currentfacilities,projects&researchandaPETimagelibrary
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ProductionofRadioisotopes
Mostoftheradioisotopesfoundinnaturehaverelativelylonghalflives.Theyalsobelongtoelementswhichare nothandledwellbythehumanbody.Asaresultmedicalapplicationsgenerallyrequiretheuseofradioisotopes whichareproducedartificially. Wehavelookedatthesubjectofradioactivityinearlierchaptersofthiswikibookandhavethenprogressedtocover theinteractionofradiationwithmatter,radiationdetectorsandimagingsystems.Wereturntosourcesof radioactivityinthischapterinordertolearnaboutmethodswhichareusedtomakeradioisotopes. Thetypeofradioisotopeofvaluetonuclearmedicineimagingshouldhavecharacteristicswhichkeeptheradiation dosetothepatientaslowaspossible.Forthisreasontheygenerallyhaveashorthalflifeandemitonlygamma raysthatisnoalphaparticleorbetaparticleemissions.Fromanenergypointofviewthegammarayenergy shouldnotbesolowthattheradiationgetscompletelyabsorbedbeforeemergingfromthepatient'sbodyandnot toohighthatitisdifficulttodetect.Forthisreasonmostoftheradioisotopesusedemitgammaraysofmedium energy,thatisbetweenabout100and200keV.Finallysincetheradioisotopeneedstobeincorporatedintosome formofradiopharmaceuticalitshouldalsobecapableofbeingproducedinaformwhichisamenabletochemical, pharmaceuticalandsterileprocessing. Theproductionmethodswewillconsiderarenuclearfission,nuclearbombardmentandtheradioisotopegenerator.
NuclearFission
Wewereintroducedtospontaneousfissioninchapter2wherewesawthataheavynucleuscanbreakintoa numberoffragments.Thisdisintegrationprocesscanbeinducedtooccurwhencertainheavynucleiabsorb neutrons.Followingabsorptionofaneutronsuchnucleibreakintosmallerfragmentswithatomicnumbersbetweenabout30and65.Someofthesenew nucleiareofvaluetonuclearmedicineandcanbeseparatedfromotherfissionfragmentsusingchemicalprocesses. Thefissionprocessiscontrolledinsideadevicecalledanuclearreactor.OnesuchreactorexistsinAustraliaatLucasHeightsinNewSouthWalesandmany othersexistthroughouttheworld.
.
NuclearBombardment
Inthismethodofradioisotopeproductionchargedparticlesareaccelerateduptoveryhighenergiesandcausedtocollideintoatargetmaterial.Examplesof suchchargedparticlesareprotons,alphaparticlesanddeuterons.Newnucleicanbeformedwhentheseparticlescollidewithnucleiinthetargetmaterial. Someofthesenucleiareofvaluetonuclearmedicine. Anexampleofthismethodistheproductionof 22Nawhereatargetof 24Mgisbombardedwithdeuterons,thatis: 24Mg+ 2H 22Na+ 4He. Adeuteronyouwillrememberfromchapter1isthesecondmostcommonisotopeofhydrogen,thatis 2H.Whenitcollideswitha 24Mgnucleusa 22Na nucleusplusanalphaparticleisproduced.Thetargetisexposedtothedeuteronsforaperiodoftimeandissubsequentlyprocessedchemicallyinorderto separateoutthe 22Nanuclei.
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Thetypeofdevicecommonlyusedforthismethodofradioisotopeproductioniscalledacyclotron.Itconsistsofaniongunforproducingthechargedparticles, electrodesforacceleratingthemtohighenergiesandamagnetforsteeringthemtowardsthetargetmaterial.Allarrangedinacircularstructure.
RadioisotopeGenerator
Thismethodiswidelyusedtoproducecertainshortlivedradioisotopesinahospitalorclinic.Itinvolvesobtainingarelativelylong livedradioisotopewhichdecaysintotheshortlivedisotopeofinterest. Agoodexampleis 99mTcwhichaswehavenotedbeforeisthemostwidelyusedradioisotopeinnuclearmedicinetoday.This isotopehasahalflifeofsixhourswhichisrathershortifwewishtohaveitdelivereddirectlyfromanuclearfacility.Insteadthe nuclearfacilitysuppliestheisotope 99Mowhichdecaysinto 99mTcwithahalflifeofabout2.75days.The 99Moiscalledthe parentisotopeand 99mTciscalledthe daughterisotope. Sothenuclearfacilityproducestheparentisotopewhichdecaysrelativelyslowlyintothedaughterisotopeandthedaughteris separatedchemicallyfromtheparentatthehospital/clinic.Thechemicalseparationdeviceiscalled,inthisexample,a 99mTc Generator: Itconsistsofaceramiccolumnwith 99Moadsorbedontoitstopsurface.Asolutioncalledan eluentispassedthroughthecolumn, reactschemicallywithany 99mTcandemergesinachemicalformwhichissuitableforcombiningwithapharmaceuticaltoproduce aradiopharmaceutical.Thearrangementshowninthefigureontherightiscalleda PositivePressuresystemwheretheeluentis forcedthroughtheceramiccolumnbyapressure,slightlyaboveatmosphericpressure,intheeluentvial. Theceramiccolumnandcollectionvialsneedtobesurroundedbyleadshieldingforradiationprotectionpurposes.Inadditionall componentsareproducedandneedtobemaintainedinasterileconditionsincethecollectedsolutionwillbeadministeredto patients. FinallyanIsotopeCalibratorisneededwhena 99mTcGeneratorisusedtodeterminetheradioactivityforpreparationofpatientdosesandtocheckwhether any 99Moispresentinthecollectedsolution.
Operationofa99mTcGenerator
Supposewehaveasampleof 99Moandsupposethatattimetherearenucleiinoursampleandnothingelse.Thenumberof 99Monucleidecreaseswith timeaccordingtoradioactivedecaylawasdiscussedinChapter3:
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whereisthedecayconstantfor 99Mo. Thusthenumberof 99Monucleithatdecayduringasmalltimeintervalisgivenby
Since 99Modecaysinto 99mTc,thesamenumberof 99mTcnucleiareformedduringthetimeperiod.Atatime,onlyafractionofthesenucleiwillstillbe aroundsincethe 99mTcisalsodecaying.Thetimefor 99mTctodecayisgivenby.Pluggingthisintoradioactivethedecaylawwearriveat:
Nowwesumupthelittlecontributions.Inotherwordsweintegrateoverinordertofindthenumber,thatisthenumberofall 99mTcnucleipresentatthe time:
Finallysolvingthisintegralwefind:
Thefigurebelowillustratestheoutcomeofthiscalculation.Thehorizontalaxisrepresentstime(indays),whiletheverticalonerepresentsthenumberofnulcei present(inarbitraryunits).Thegreencurveillustratestheexponentialdecayofasampleofpure 99mTc.Theredcurveshowsthenumberof 99mTcnuclei presentina 99mTcgeneratorthatisnevereluted.Finally,thebluecurveshowsthesituationfora 99mTcgeneratorthatiselutedevery12hours.
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Comparisonofthephysicaldecayof99mTc withitsactivityarisingfrom99Modecayina radioisotopegeneratorwithandwithout elutionat12hourintervals.
Photographstakeninanuclearmedicinehotlabareshownbelow:
AnotherviewofthePbshielding surroundingalaminarflowcabinet.
Pbshieldingsurroundingthelaminar flowcabinet,where radiopharmaceuticalsareprepared.
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ExternalLinks
ConcernsoverMolybdenumSupplies(http://www.bnmsonline.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=295&Itemid=11)newsfrom2008 compiledbytheBritishNuclearMedicineSociety. CyclotronJavaApplet(http://www.phy.ntnu.edu.tw/ntnujava/viewtopic.php?t=50)aJavabasedinteractivedemonstrationoftheoperationofa cyclotronfromGFuKwunHwang,Dept.ofPhysics,NationalTaiwanNormalUniversity,VirtualPhysicsLaboratory. NuclearPowerPlantDemonstration(http://www.ida.liu.se/~her/npp/demo.html)aJavabasedinteractivedemonstrationofcontrollinganuclear reactor.AlsocontainsnuclearpowerInformationlinks. ANSTO(http://www.ansto.gov.au/)informationaboutAustralia'snuclearorganization. MedicalValley(http://www.nrgnl.com/public/medical/valley/index.html)containsinformationonwhatnuclearmedicineis,productionofnuclear pharmaceuticals,molybdenumandtechnetiumfromTheNetherlandsEnergyResearchFoundationPetten.
ChapterReview
ChapterReview:Atomic&NuclearStructure
Theatomconsistsoftwocomponentsanucleus(positivelycharged)andanelectroncloud(negativelycharged) Theradiusofthenucleusisabout10,000timessmallerthanthatoftheatom Thenucleuscanhavetwocomponentparticles neutrons(nocharge)and protons(positivelycharged)collectivelycalled nucleons Themassofaprotonisaboutequaltothatofaneutronandisabout1,840timesthatofanelectron Thenumberofprotonsequalsthenumberofelectronsinanisolatedatom The AtomicNumberspecifiesthenumberofprotonsinanucleus The MassNumberspecifiesthenumberofnucleonsinanucleus Isotopesofelementshavethesameatomicnumberbutdifferentmassnumbers Isotopesareclassifiedbyspecifyingtheelement'schemicalsymbolprecededbyasuperscriptgivingthemassnumberandasubscriptgivingtheatomic number The atomicmassunitisdefinedas1/12ththemassofthestable,mostcommonlyoccurringisotopeofcarbon(i.e.C12) Bindingenergyistheenergywhichholdsthenucleonstogetherinanucleusandismeasuredin electronvolts(eV) Tocombattheeffectoftheincreaseinelectrostaticrepulsionasthenumberofprotonsincreases,thenumberofneutronsincreasesmorerapidly givingrisetothe NuclearStabilityCurve Thereare~2450isotopesof~100elementsandtheunstableisotopeslieaboveorbelowtheNuclearStabilityCurve Unstableisotopesattempttoreachthestabilitycurvebysplittingintofragments(fission)orbyemittingparticles/energy(radioactivity)
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Unstableisotopes<=>radioactiveisotopes<=>radioisotopes<=>radionuclides ~300ofthe~2450isotopesarefoundinnaturetherestareproducedartificially.
ChapterReview:RadioactiveDecay
Fission:Someheavynucleidecaybysplittinginto2or3fragmentsplussomeneutrons.Thesefragments formnewnucleiwhichareusuallyradioactive AlphaDecay:Twoprotonsandtwoneutronsleavethenucleustogetherinanassemblyknownasan alphaparticle AnalphaparticleisaHe4nucleus BetaDecayElectronEmission:Certainnucleiwithanexcessofneutronsmayreachstabilityby convertinganeutronintoaprotonwiththeemissionofa betaminusparticle Abetaminusparticleisanelectron BetaDecayPositronEmission:Whenthenumberofprotonsinanucleusisinexcess,thenucleusmay reachstabilitybyconvertingaprotonintoaneutronwiththeemissionofa betaplusparticle Abetaplusparticleisa positron Positrons annihilatewithelectronstoproducetwobacktobackgammarays BetaDecayElectronCapture:Aninnerorbitalelectronisattractedintothenucleuswhereitcombines . withaprotontoformaneutron Electroncaptureisalsoknownas Kcapture Followingelectroncapture,theexcitednucleusmaygiveoffsomegammarays.Inaddition,asthevacantelectronsiteisfilled,anXrayisemitted GammaDecayIsomericTransition:Anucleusinanexcitedstatemayreachitsgroundstatebytheemissionofagammaray Agammarayisanelectromagneticphotonofhighenergy GammaDecayInternalConversion:theexcitationenergyofanexcitednucleusisgiventoanatomicelectron.
ChapterReview:TheRadioactiveDecayLaw
Theradioactivedecaylawinequationform Radioactivityisthenumberofradioactivedecaysperunittime The decayconstantisdefinedasthefractionoftheinitialnumberofradioactivenucleiwhichdecayinunittime HalfLife:Thetimetakenforthenumberofradioactivenucleiinthesampletoreducebyafactoroftwo HalfLife=(0.693)/(DecayConstant) TheSIUnitofradioactivityisthe becquerel (Bq) 1Bq=oneradioactivedecaypersecond Thetraditionalunitofradioactivityisthe curie(Ci) 1Ci=3.7x1010radioactivedecayspersecond.
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ChapterReview:UnitsofRadiationMeasurement
ExposureexpressestheintensityofanXorgammaraybeam TheSIunitofexposureisthe coulombperkilogram(C/kg) 1C/kg=ThequantityofXorgammarayssuchthattheassociatedelectronsemittedperkgofairatSTPproduceinairionscarrying1coulombof electriccharge Thetraditionalunitofexposureisthe roentgen(R) 1R=ThequantityofXorgammarayssuchthattheassociatedelectronsemittedperkgofairatSTPproduceinairionscarrying2.58x104 coulombsofelectriccharge The exposurerateistheexposureperunittime,e.g.C/kg/s Absorbeddoseistheradiationenergyabsorbedperunitmassofabsorbingmaterial TheSIunitofabsorbeddoseisthe gray(Gy) 1Gy=Theabsorptionof1jouleofradiationenergyperkilogramofmaterial Thetraditionalunitofabsorbeddoseisthe rad 1rad=Theabsorptionof102joulesofradiationenergyperkilogramofmaterial The SpecificGammaRayConstantexpressestheexposurerateproducedbythegammaraysfromaradioisotope TheSpecificGammaRayConstantisexpressedinSIunitsinC/kg/s/Bqat1m ExposurefromanXorgammaraysourcefollowsthe InverseSquareLawanddecreaseswiththesquareofthedistancefromthesource.
ChapterReview:InteractionofRadiationwithMatter
AlphaParticles: exertconsiderableelectrostaticattractionontheouterorbitalelectronsofatomsnearwhichtheypassandcauseionisations travelinstraightlinesexceptforraredirectcollisionswithnucleiofatomsintheirpath energyisalwaysdiscrete. BetaMinusParticles: attractedbynucleiandrepelledbyelectroncloudsastheypassthroughmatterandcauseionisations haveatortuouspath havearangeofenergies rangeofenergiesresultsbecausetwoparticlesareemittedabetaparticleanda neutrino. GammaRays: energyisalwaysdiscrete havemanymodesofinteractionwithmatter importantinteractionsfornuclearmedicineimaging(andradiography)arethePhotoelectricEffectandtheComptonEffect. PhotoelectricEffect:
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whenagammaraycollideswithanorbitalelectron,itmaytransferallitsenergytotheelectronandceasetoexist theelectroncanleavetheatomwithakineticenergyequaltotheenergyofthegammaraylesstheorbitalbindingenergy apositiveionisformedwhentheelectronleavestheatom theelectroniscalleda photoelectron thephotoelectroncancausefurtherionisations subsequentXrayemissionastheorbitalvacancyisfilled. ComptonEffect: Agammaraymaytransferonlypartofitsenergytoavalenceelectronwhichisessentiallyfree**givesrisetoascatteredgammaray issometimescalledComptonScatter apositiveionresults Attenuationistermusedtodescribebothabsorptionandscatteringofradiation.
ChapterReview:AttenuationofGammaRays
Attenuationofanarrowbeamofgammaraysincreasesasthethickness,thedensityandtheatomicnumberoftheabsorberincreases Attenuationofanarrowbeamofgammaraysdecreasesastheenergyofthegammaraysincreases Attenuationofanarrowbeamisdescribedbyanequation the LinearAttenuationCoefficientisdefinedasthefractionoftheincidentintensityabsorbedinaunitdistanceoftheabsorber Linearattenuationcoefficientsareusuallyexpressedinunitsofcm1 the HalfValueLayeristhethicknessofabsorberrequiredtoreducetheintensityofaradiationbeambyafactorof2 HalfValueLayer=(0.693)/(LinearAttenuationCoefficient) the MassAttenuationCoefficientisgivenbythelinearattenuationcoefficientdividedbythedensityoftheabsorber Massattenuationcoefficientsareusuallyexpressedinunitsofcm2g1.
ChapterReview:GasFilledDetectors
Gasfilleddetectorsincludethe ionisationchamber,the proportionalcounterandthe Geigercounter Theyoperateonthebasisofionisationofgasatomsbytheincidentradiation,wherethepositiveionsandelectronsproducedarecollectedby electrodes An ionpairisthetermusedtodescribeapositiveionandanelectron Theoperationofgasfilleddetectorsiscriticallydependentonthemagnitudeoftheapplieddcvoltage Theoutputvoltageofanionisationchambercanbecalculatedonthebasisofthecapacitanceofthechamber Averysensitiveamplifierisrequiredtomeasurevoltagepulsesproducedbyanionisationchamber Thegasinionisationchambersisusuallyair Ionisationchambersaretypicallyusedtomeasureradiationexposure(inadevicecalledan ExposureMeter)andradioactivity(inadevicecalledan IsotopeCalibrator)
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Thetotalchargecollectedinaproportionalcountermaybeupto1000timesthechargeproducedinitiallybytheradiation TheinitialionisationtriggersacompletegasbreakdowninaGeigercounter ThegasinaGeigercounterisusuallyaninertgas ThegasbreakdownmustbestoppedinordertopreparetheGeigercounterforaneweventbyaprocesscalled quenching Twotypesofquenchingarepossible:electronicquenchingandtheuseofa quenchinggas Geigercounterssufferfrom deadtime,asmallperiodoftimefollowingthegasbreakdownwhenthecounterisinoperative Thetruecountratecanbedeterminedfromtheactualcountrateandthedeadtimeusinganequation ThevalueoftheapplieddcvoltageinaGeigercounteriscritical,buthighstabilityisnotrequired.
ChapterReview:ScintillationDetectors
NaI(Tl)isascintillationcrystalwidelyusedinnuclearmedicine Thecrystaliscoupledtoa photomultipliertubetogenerateavoltagepulserepresentingtheenergydepositedinthecrystalbytheradiation Averysensitiveamplifierisneededtomeasuresuchvoltagepulses Thevoltagespulsesrangeinamplitudedependingonhowtheradiationinteractswiththecrystal,i.e.thepulsesformaspectrumwhoseshapedepends ontheinteractionmechanismsinvolved,e.g.formediumenergygammaraysusedininvivonuclearmedicine:theComptoneffectandthe Photoelectriceffect A GammaRayEnergySpectrumforamediumenergy,monoenergeticgammarayemitterconsists(simply)ofaComptonSmearandaPhotopeak PulseHeightAnalysisisusedtodiscriminatetheamplitudeofvoltagepulses Apulseheightanalyser(PHA)consistsofa lowerleveldiscriminator(whichpassesvoltagepulseswhicharethanitssetting)andan upperlevel discriminator(whichpassesvoltagepulseslowerthanitssetting) Theresultisavariablewidthwindowwhichcanbeplacedanywherealongaspectrum,orusedtoscanaspectrum A singlechannelanalyser(SCA)consistsofasinglePHAwithascalerandaratemeter A multichannelanalyser(MCA)isacomputercontrolleddevicewhichcanacquiredatafrommanywindowssimultaneously.
ChapterReview:NuclearMedicineImagingSystems
A gammacameraconsistsofalargediameter(2540cm)NaI(Tl)crystal,~1cmthick Thecrystalisviewedbyanarrayof3791PMtubes PMtubessignalsareprocessedbyapositioncircuitwhichgenerates+/Xand+/Ysignals Thesepositionsignalsaresummedtoforma Zsignal whichisfedtoapulseheightanalyser The+/X,+/YanddiscriminatedZsignalsaresenttoacomputerfordigitalimageprocessing A collimatorisusedtoimprovethespatialresolutionofagammacamera CollimatorstypicallyconsistofaPbplatecontainingalargenumberofsmallholes Themostcommontypeisa parallel multiholecollimator Themostresolvableareaisdirectlyinfrontofacollimator
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Parallelholecollimatorsvaryintermsofthenumberofholes,theholediameter,thelengthofeachholeandtheseptumthicknessthecombinationof whichaffectthesensitivityandspatialresolutionoftheimagingsystem Othertypesincludethe divergingholecollimator(whichgeneratesminifiedimages),the convergingholecollimator(whichgeneratesmagnified images)andthe pinholecollimator(whichgeneratesmagnifiedinvertedimages) Conventionalimagingwithagammacameraisreferredtoas PlanarImaging,i.e.a2Dimageportrayinga3Dobjectgivingsuperimposeddetailsand nodepthinformation SinglePhotonEmissionComputedTomography(SPECT)producesimagesofslicesthroughthebody SPECTusesagammacameratorecordimagesataseriesofanglesaroundthepatient Theresultantdatacanbeprocessedusing FilteredBackProjectionand IterativeReconstruction SPECTgammacamerascanhaveone,twoorthreecameraheads PositronEmissionTomography(PET)alsoproducesimagesofslicesthroughthebody PETexploitsthepositronannihilationprocesswheretwo0.51MeVbacktobackgammaraysareproduced Ifthesegammaraysaredetected,theiroriginwilllieonalinejoiningtwoofthedetectorsoftheringofdetectorswhichencirclesthepatient A TimeofFlightmethodcanbeusedtolocalisetheirorigin PETsystemsrequireonsiteornearby cyclotrontoproduceshortlivedradioisotopes,suchasC11,N13,O15andF18.
ChapterReview:ProductionofRadioisotopes
Naturallyoccurringradioisotopesgenerallyhavelonghalflivesandbelongtorelativelyheavyelementsandarethereforeunsuitableformedical diagnosticapplications Medicaldiagnosticradioisotopesaregenerallyproducedartificially The fissionprocesscanbeexploitedsothatradioisotopesofinterestcanbeseparatedchemicallyfromfissionproducts A cyclotroncanbeusedtoacceleratechargedparticlesuptohighenergiessothattheytocollideintoatargetofthematerialtobeactivated Aradioisotopegeneratorisgenerallyusedinhospitalstoproduceshortlivedradioisotopes A technetium99mgeneratorconsistsofanaluminacolumncontainingMo99,whichdecaysintoTc99m SalineispassedthroughthegeneratortoelutetheTc99mtheresultingsolutioniscalled sodiumpertechnetate Bothpositivepressureandnegativepressuregeneratorsareinuse An isotopecalibratorisneededwhenaTc99mgeneratorisusedinordertodeterminetheactivityforpreparationofpatientdosesandtotest whetheranyMo99ispresentinthecollectedsolution.
ExerciseQuestions
1.Discusstheprocessofradioactivedecayfromtheperspectiveofthenuclearstabilitycurve. 2.DescribeindetailFOURcommonformsofradioactivedecay. 3.GivetheequationwhichexpressestheRadioactiveDecayLaw,andexplainthemeaningofeachofitsterms.
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4.Defineeachofthefollowing: (a)Halflife (b)DecayConstant (c)Becquerel. 5.Asampleofradioactivesubstanceisfoundtohaveanactivityof100kBq.Itsradioactivityismeasuredagain82dayslaterandisfoundtobe15kBq. Calculate: (a)thehalflife (b)thedecayconstant. 6.Defineeachofthefollowingradiationunits: (a)Roentgen (b)Becquerel (c)Gray. 7.Estimatetheexposurerateat1metrefroma100MBqsourceofradioactivitywhichhasaSpecificGammaRayConstantof50mRperhourperMBqat1 cm. 8.Brieflydescribethebasicprincipleofoperationofgasfilledradiationdetectors. 9.Illustrateusingagraphhowthemagnitudeofthevoltagepulsesfromagasfilledradiationdetectorvarieswithappliedvoltageandidentifyonthegraphthe regionsassociatedwiththeoperationofIonisationChambersandtheGeigerCounters. 10.Describetheconstructionandprinciplesofoperationofascintillationspectrometer. 11.Discussthecomponentsoftheenergyspectrumfromamonoenergetic,mediumenergygammaemittingradioisotopeobtainedusingascintillation spectrometeronthebasisofhowthegammaraysinteractwiththescintillationcrystal. 12.DescribetheconstructionandprinciplesofoperationofaGammaCamera. 13.ComparefeaturesofthreetypesofcollimatorwhichcanbeusedwithaGammaCamera.
FurtherInformation
NuclearMedicineisafascinatingapplicationofnuclearphysics.Thefirsttenchaptersofthiswikibookareintendedtosupportabasicintroductorycourseinan en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Basic_Physics_of_Nuclear_Medicine/Print_version&printable=yes 95/97
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NuclearMedicineisafascinatingapplicationofnuclearphysics.Thefirsttenchaptersofthiswikibookareintendedtosupportabasicintroductorycourseinan earlysemesterofanundergraduateprogram.Theyassumethatstudentshavecompleteddecenthighschoolprogramsinmathsandphysicsandare concurrentlytakingsubjectsinthemedicalsciences.Additionalchapterscovermoreadvancedtopicsinthisfield.Ourfocusinthiswikibookisthediagnostic applicationofNuclearMedicine.Therapeuticapplicationsareconsideredinaseparatewikibook,"RadiationOncology".
Contents
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. Atomic&NuclearStructure RadioactiveDecay TheRadioactiveDecayLaw UnitsofRadiationMeasurement InteractionofRadiationwithMatter AttenuationofGammaRays GasFilledRadiationDetectors ScintillationDetectors NuclearMedicineImagingSystems ComputersinNuclearMedicine FourierMethods XRayCTinNuclearMedicine PACSandAdvancedImageProcessing ThreeDimensionalVisualizationTechniques PatientDosimetry ProductionofRadioisotopes ChapterReview DynamicStudiesinNuclearMedicine DeconvolutionAnalysis Sonography&NuclearMedicine MRI&NuclearMedicine DualEnergyAbsorptiometry
Authors
TheprincipalauthorofthistextisKieranMaher,whoisverygratefulfortheexperteditorialassistanceofDirkHnniger (http://de.wikibooks.org/wiki/Spezial:Emailuser/Dirk_Huenniger)duringhisGermantranslationofthetextandhiscontributiontothesectionontheOperation ofa99mTcGenerator.
Feedback
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Youcansendanemailmessage(mailto:kieranmaher@mac.com)ifyou'dliketoprovideanyfeedback,criticism,correction,additions/improvement suggestionsetc.regardingthiswikibook.
Bibliography
AppliedImagingTechnology(http://homepage.mac.com/kieranmaher/ait/),4thEd.,JCPHeggie,NALiddell&KPMaher(StVincent'sHospital Melbourne,2001) BasicScienceofNuclearMedicine(http://books.google.com.au/books?id=5ylrAAAAMAAJ),2ndEd.,RPParker,PHSSmith,DMTaylor(Churchill Livingstone,1984) ComputedTomography:Fundamentals,SystemTechnology,ImageQuality,Applications(http://books.google.com.au/books?id=iYRrAAAAMAAJ),3rd Ed.,WAKalender(Wiley,2000) IntroductiontoNuclearPhysics(http://books.google.com.au/books?id=MwBRAAAAMAAJ),HEnge(AddisonWesley,1966) MagneticResonanceinMedicine(http://books.google.com.au/books?id=LAqExR0ErUsC),4thEd.,PARinck(Blackwell,2001) NuclearMedicineinUrology&Nephrology(http://books.google.com.au/books?id=8zpsAAAAMAAJ),2ndEd.,HJTesta,PHO'Reilly&RAShields (ButterworthHeinemann,1986) PhysicsinNuclearMedicine(http://books.google.com.au/books?id=9I8JAAAACAAJ),JASorensonandMEPhelps(Grune&Stratton,1980) RadioisotopeTechniquesinClinicalResearchandDiagnosis(http://books.google.com.au/books?id=QudsAAAAMAAJ),NVeallandHVetter (Butterworths,1958) RadionuclideTechniquesinMedicine(http://books.google.com.au/books?id=C7Q8AAAAIAAJ),JMMcAlister(CambridgeUniversityPress,1979). Retrievedfrom"http://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Basic_Physics_of_Nuclear_Medicine/Print_version&oldid=1893342"
Thispagewaslastmodifiedon18July2010,at16:27. TextisavailableundertheCreativeCommonsAttribution/ShareAlikeLicenseadditionaltermsmayapply.Byusingthissite,youagreetotheTermsof UseandPrivacyPolicy.
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Graphofthestabilityofeveryknownnucleus, plottedasZ(numberofprotons)versusN (numberofneutrons).Thecolorcorresponds tothevalueofthehalflifeTwithastrong logscale,sinceitvariesbetween1020and 1020seconds.

whereln xrepresentsthenaturallogarithmof x.Andthirdlyweusedthedefinitionoflogarithmsthatwhen

Thegraphplotsthenumberofradioactivenucleiatanytime, Nt,againsttime, t .Wecanseethatthenumberofradioactivenucleidecreasesfrom N0thatis thenumberat t =0inarapidfashioninitiallyandthenmoreslowlyintheclassicexponentialmanner. TheinfluenceoftheDecayConstantcanbeseeninthefollowingfigure:

Noticethatthisexpressionissimplyanequationoftheform y= mx+ cwhere m=land c=ln N0.Asaresultitistheequationofastraightlineofslopelas showninthefollowingfigure.Suchaplotissometimesusefulwhenwewishtoconsiderasituationwithoutthecomplicationofthedirectexponential behaviour.

13seconds 6hours 8days 1month 30years 462years 1620years 4.51x109years

WecanthereforerewritetheRadioactiveDecayLawbysubstitutingfor Ntand t asfollows:

Notethatthelengthofayearusedinconvertingfrom'peryear'to'persecond'aboveis365.25daystoaccountforleapyears.Inadditionthereasonfor convertingtounitsof'persecond'isbecausetheunitofradioactivityisexpressedasthenumberofnucleidecayingpersecond. Secondlywecancalculatethat1gof 226Racontains:

Inotherwordsamassofjustoverfivepicogramsof 99mTccanemitonemilliongammarayspersecond.Theresultreinforcesanimportantpointthat youwilllearnaboutradiationprotectionwhichisthatyoushouldtreatradioactivematerialsjustlikeyouwouldhandlepathogenicbacteria!

Thetwoeffectswehavejustdescribedgiverisetobothabsorptionandscatteringoftheradiationbeam.Theoveralleffectisreferredtoas attenuationof gammarays.Wewillinvestigatethisfeaturefromananalyticalperspectiveinthefollowingchapter.Beforewedoso,we'llbrieflyconsidertheinteractionof radiationwithlivingmatter.

Ionizationsandexcitationsalongparticletracksinwater,fora5.4 MeVparticle(topleft),forelectronsgeneratedfollowingthe absorptionofa1.5keVXrayphoton(topright)andelectrons generatedduringthedecayofiodine125.

Cosmic radiation Terrestrial radiation Internal radiation Radonand othergases

Butbyhowmuchyoumightask.Beforeweconsiderthisletusdenotethedifferencebetween I xand I 0asI ,thatis

wheretheconstantofproportionality,,iscalledtheLinearAttenuationCoefficient. Dividingacrossby I wecanrewritethisequationas:

Graphicalrepresentationofthedependenceofradiationintensityonthe thicknessofabsorber:Intensityversusthicknessontheleftandthe naturallogarithmoftheintensityversusthicknessontheright.

Exponentialattenuationexpressedusinga small,mediumandlargevalueoftheLinear AttenuationCoefficient,.

WeimpliedabovethattheLinearAttenuationCoefficientwasusefulwhenwewereconsideringanabsorbingmaterialofthesamedensitybutofdifferent thicknesses.Arelatedcoefficientcanbeofvaluewhenwewishtoincludethedensity,,oftheabsorberinouranalysis.Thisisthe MassAttenuation Coefficientwhichisdefinedasthe:

Thatistheexposurerate1meterfromoursourceis 891.9mRhr1. Wewishtoreducethisexposurerateaccordingtothequestiontolessthan0.5mRhr1usingPb. YoushouldbeableatthisstagetousetheexponentialattenuationequationalongwiththeHalfValueLayerforthesegammaraysinPbtocalculate thatthethicknessofPbrequiredisabout 6.5cm.

Arangeofionisation chambersofdifferentvolumes usingformeasuringradiation exposure.

Anisotopecalibratorusedin nuclearmedicinetheblue cylinderontheleftcontainsthe reentrantchamber.

whereTisthetruereading,Aistheactualreadingandisthedeadtime.Someinstrumentsperformthiscalculationautomatically. Thefourthfeaturetonoteaboutthisdetectoristhedependenceofitsperformanceonthedcvoltage.TheGeigerMllerRegionofourfigureaboveisshown inmoredetailbelow:

Afinalexampleispterphenylinpolystyrenewhichisascintillatorintheformofaplastic.Thisformcan pterphenylinpolystyrene beeasilymadeintodifferentshapeslikemostplasticsandisthereforeusefulwhendetectorsofparticular shapesarerequired.

Itconsistsofahighvoltagesupply,aresistordividerchainandaloadresistor,R .Thehighvoltagesupplygeneratesadcvoltage,V dcwhichcanbeupto

ANaIcrystalcoupledtoa photomultipliertube. Anumberofidentical photomultipliertubesfroma GammaCamera.

Asinglechannelanalyser. Asinglechannelanalyserwith acrystalPMTassembly.

The importantfeatureofthescintillationdetectoristhatthisoutputvoltage,V outisdirectlyproportionaltotheenergydepositedbytheradiationinthecrystal. Wewillseewhatausefulfeaturethisisbelow.Beforewedosowewillbrieflyanalyzetheoperationofthisdevice.

Thisamountofchargeisverysmall.EventhoughwehaveusedasophisticatedphotodetectorlikeaPMTwestillendupwithquiteasmallelectricalsignal. Averysensitiveamplifieristhereforeneededtoamplifythissignal.Thistypeofamplifierisgenerallycalleda preamplifierandwewillrefertoitagainlater.

Afinalpointtonotehereisthatsincethescintillationdetectoriswidelyusedtoobtaininformationabouttheenergiesoftheradiationemittedfroma radioactivesourceitisfrequentlyreferredtoasa ScintillationSpectrometer.

Gammarayenergyspectrumfor99mTc,withenergydiscriminationsettingsof92 126keVforscatterestimation(blue)andof126154keV,centredon140keV,for thephotopeak(red).

Theimageacquisitionand processingconsoleofadual headedgammacamera.

ASPECTsliceofthe distributionof99mTc Ceretecwithina patient'sbrain. ASPECTslicethrough apatient'sliver.

APETsliceofa patient'sbrain,witha regionofinterestdrawn toindicatetheskin surface.

Imagesfroma ventilation(V)and perfusion(Q)scanofa patient'slungs.

Aseriesofplanar imagesacquiredevery 10secondsduringa renogramofapatient withastoneblocking theirrightkidney.

Agraphicaldisplay showingthenumberof countsineachkidney versustimefora renogram.

Abloodpoolstudy coveringthewholebody ofapatient.

AseriesfromaSPECT studyofapatient's brain.

ImagesfromaSPECT studyofapatient's heart.

Athyroiduptakestudy. Agastricemptyingstudy evaluatingapatient's digestivesystem. A201Tlstudyofthe wholebodyofapatient.

Onecycleofdatathroughthisprocessingchainisreferredtoasone iteration.Sixteenormoreiterationscanberequiredinordertogeneratean adequatereconstructionand,asaresult,computationtimescanberatherlong.TheOrderedSubsetsExpectationMaximisation(OSEM)algorithm

canbeusedtosubstantiallyreducethecomputationtimebyutilisingalimitednumberofprojections(called subsets)inasequentialfashionwithinthe iterativeprocess.Noisegeneratedduringthereconstructionprocesscanbereduced,forexample,usingaGaussianfilterbuiltintothereconstruction calculationsorappliedasapostfilter:

whereisthedecayconstantfor 99Mo. Thusthenumberof 99Monucleithatdecayduringasmalltimeintervalisgivenby

Since 99Modecaysinto 99mTc,thesamenumberof 99mTcnucleiareformedduringthetimeperiod.Atatime,onlyafractionofthesenucleiwillstillbe aroundsincethe 99mTcisalsodecaying.Thetimefor 99mTctodecayisgivenby.Pluggingthisintoradioactivethedecaylawwearriveat:

Nowwesumupthelittlecontributions.Inotherwordsweintegrateoverinordertofindthenumber,thatisthenumberofall 99mTcnucleipresentatthe time:

Comparisonofthephysicaldecayof99mTc withitsactivityarisingfrom99Modecayina radioisotopegeneratorwithandwithout elutionat12hourintervals.

Pbshieldingsurroundingthelaminar flowcabinet,where radiopharmaceuticalsareprepared.

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