Most of the radiation measurement systems used in nuclear medicine use pulse-height analysis ( Chapter 8 , Section C) to sort out the different radiation energies striking the detector. This is called pulse-height or energy spectrometry. It is used to…
All measurements are subject to measurement error. This includes physical measurements, such as radiation counting measurements used in nuclear medicine procedures, as well as in biologic and clinical studies, such as evaluation of the effectiveness of an imaging technique. In…
Most of the radiation detectors used in nuclear medicine are operated in a “pulse mode”; that is, they generate pulses of electrical charge or current that are counted to determine the number of radiation events detected. In addition, by analyzing…
When radiations from a radioactive material pass through matter, they interact with atoms and molecules and transfer energy to them. The transfer of energy has two effects: ionization and excitation. Ionization occurs when the energy transferred is sufficient to cause…
The two most important general types of radiation emitted during radioactive decay are charged particles , such as α particles and β particles, and electromagnetic radiation (photons), such as γ rays and x rays. These radiations transfer their energy to…
Most of the naturally occurring radionuclides are very long-lived (e.g., 40 K, T 1/2 ~ 10 9 years), represent very heavy elements (e.g., uranium and radium) that are unimportant in metabolic or physiologic processes, or both. Some of the first…
Radioactive decay is a spontaneous process; that is, there is no way to predict with certainty the exact moment at which an unstable nucleus will undergo its radioactive transformation into another, more stable nucleus. Mathematically, radioactive decay is described in…
Radioactive decay is a process in which an unstable nucleus transforms into a more stable one by emitting particles, photons, or both, releasing energy in the process. Atomic electrons may become involved in some types of radioactive decay, but it…
Radioactivity is a process involving events in individual atoms and nuclei. Before discussing radioactivity, therefore, it is worthwhile to review some of the basic concepts of atomic and nuclear physics. a Quantities and Units 1 Types of Quantities and Units…
a Fundamental Concepts The science and clinical practice of nuclear medicine involve the administration of trace amounts of compounds labeled with radioactivity (radionuclides) that are used to provide diagnostic information in a wide range of disease states. Although radionuclides also…