Abstract
This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of essential radiation physics required to understand many fundamental concepts of nuclear medicine in general and positron emission tomography (PET) imaging in particular. We aimed to introduce the most important elements of radiation physics as tightly related to daily practice and routine activities performed in clinical environment. Topics covered in this chapter have discussed definition of electromagnetic radiation, atomic models, atomic structure, radioactivity and radioactive modes of decay; production of radiopharmaceuticals including medical cyclotrons, saturation yield and reactor-produced radionuclides; and interaction of radiation with matter, linear and mass attenuation coefficients as well as mostly commonly used radiation detection and measurement devices. As this is the first chapter in the book, we made every effort to cover as many aspects that might come across the reader throughout or facilitate the understanding of other chapters.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References and Further Reading
Evans RD. The atomic nucleus. McGraw-Hill, New York; 1955.
Cherry SR, Sorenson JA, Phelps ME, editors. Physics in nuclear medicine. 4th ed. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders; 2012.
Martin James E. Physics for radiation protection. 2nd ed. Weinheim: Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA; 2006.
Khalil MM, editor. Basic sciences of nuclear medicine. Heidelberg/Dordrecht/London/New York: Springer; 2011.
Ahmed Syed N. Physics and engineering of radiation detection. Britain: Elsevier; 2007. ISBN 13: 978-0-12-045581-2.
Freeman LM, Biersack H-J, editors. Clinical nuclear medicine. Germany: Springer; 2007. 24/3150-543210.
Sharp PF, Gemmell HG, Murray AD, editors. Practical Nuclear Medicine. 3rd ed. Oxford University/Verlag/ London: Springer; 2005.
IAEA human health reports No.5. Status of computed tomography dosimetry for wide cone beam scanners. 2011.
AAPM REPORT NO. 181; The selection, use, calibration, and quality assurance of radionuclide calibrators used in nuclear medicine. Report of AAPM Task Group 181. 2012.
Madsen MT, Anderson JA, Halama JR, Kleck J, et al. AAPM Task Group 108: PET and PET/CT shielding requirements. Med Phys. 2006;33(1):4–15.
Mohr PJ, Taylor BN, Newell DB. CODATA recommended values of the fundamental physical constants: 2010. NIST.2012. p. 1–94.
Pillai MR, Dash A, Knapp Jr FF. Sustained availability of 99mTc: possible paths forward. J Nucl Med. 2013;54:313–23.
IPSM. Radiation protection in nuclear medicine and pathology. In: KE Goldstone, PC Jackson, MJ Myers, AE Simpson, editors. Report No 63, York: Institute of Physical Sciences in Medicine; 1991.
Saha GB. Fundamentals of nuclear pharmacy. 6th ed. New York/Heidelberg/Dordrecht/London: Springer; 2010.
Shankar V, editor. Molecular imaging: radiopharmaceuticals for PET and SPECT. Dordrecht/Heidelberg London/New York: Springer; 2009. ISBN 978-3-540-76734-3.
Basdevant JL, Rich J, Michel S. Fundamentals in nuclear physics. New York: Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.; 2004.
Sarah K, editor. Passive nondestructive assay of nuclear materials. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington U.S., Springfield; 1991.
Dewan L. Design and construction of a cyclotron capable to accelerating protons to 2 MeV. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering; 2007.
Friesel DL, Antaya TA. Medical cyclotrons. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology; 2007.
Gu Y, Matteson JL, Skelton RT, Deal AC, Stephan EA, et al. Study of a high-resolution, 3D positioning cadmium zinc telluride detector for PET. Phys Med Biol. 2011;56:1563–84.
Baumann T. Minicourse on experimental techniques at the NSCL neutron detection & spectroscopy. National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory. Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan; 2001.
Smith DS, Stabin MG. Exposure rate constants and lead shielding values for over 1,100 radionuclides. Health Phys. 2012;102(3):271–91.
Podgorsak EB. Radiation physics for medical physicists. Germany: Springer; 2006.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hosny, T., Al-Anezi, E., Khalil, M.M. (2017). Basic Radiation Physics. In: Khalil, M. (eds) Basic Science of PET Imaging. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40070-9_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40070-9_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-40068-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-40070-9
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)