Module Six Flashcards
Describe the basic structure of an X-ray tube
A high voltage supply connecting a cathode (hot filament) and anode (Metal target) with a vacuum between the two. It is surrounded in a lead case with a small window.
Describe how X-ray photons are produced
- The high voltage causes electrons to be emitted from the cathode by thermionic emission.
- They are then accelerated towards the anode
- The anode is made of a metal target (e.g. tungsten), and is called the target metal.
- X-ray photons are produced when the electrons are decelerated by hitting the anode.
Describe how X-ray tubes have been modified to make them more effective
- Tube lined with lead to shield any X-rays being emmited in unwanted directions
- Small window to allow X-rays of certain wavelength to exit and in a desired direction
- Angled target metal to allow X-rays to be emitted in a certain direction
- Oil is circulated to cool the anode
- Anode is rotated to spread the heat over a larger surface area
- Target metal has a high melting point so it won’t melt due to the heat of the tube
Describe the X-ray attenuation mechanism ‘Simple Scatter’
Energy: 1-20keV
- X-ray photon interacts with an electron atom/absorbed by an electron
- Does not have enough required to remove the electron
- X-ray photons are scattered/re-admittted by the electron in a different direction, without change to its energy
Describe the X-ray attenuation mechanism ‘Photoelectric effect’
Energy less than 100keV
- X-ray photon is absorbed by an electron
- The electron uses this energy to escape from the atom
Describe the X-ray attenuation mechanism ‘Compton Scattering’
Energy between 0.5MeV and 5.0MeV
- X-ray photon is absorbed by an electron
- Electron uses some of this energy to escape the atom
- X-ray photon is re-admitted by the electron with a lower energy and in a different direction
Describe the X-ray attenuation mechanism ‘Pair Production’
Energy ≥ 1.02 MeV
- The X-ray photon interacts near the nucleus
- The X-ray photon then disappears into an electron-positron pair.
This needs to by the nucleus so momentum is conserved
Describe the relationship between the initial intensity of an X-ray and the final intensity of an X-ray
Related by exponential decay: ln I and ln I0 are directly proportional where K = -µx, where x is the thickness of the material and µ is the attenuation coefficient
Give two examples of a contrast medium in X-rays
- Barium
- Iodine
Explain the use of contrast mediums in X-ray imaging
Help improve the visability of soft tissues and their internal structures.
Describe how a contrast medium helps to add detail to an X-ray image
- Contrast medium is injested/injected into the patient (Organic compound of Iodine for liquids and Barium Sulfate for digestive systems)
- The contrast medium passes through the desired areas.
- As µ ∝ Z3, and the average atomic number of soft tissue is seven, and iodine 53 and Barium 56, there attenuation coefficients are much higher, so add high amounts of contrast.
Describe the process of a CAT (Computerised Axial Tomography) scan
- X-ray tubes produce a thin fan-shapped beam of X-rays
- They are detected by a set of detectors
- The Tube and Detectors rotate around, giving a full 360° view of that slice
- The patient is then moved out slightly, and the process continues
- All of the slices are then put together to form a 3D computerised image.
Descrive the Advantages and Disadvantages of a CAT scan over a typical X-ray scan
- Advantages:
- 3D image
- Better distinction between tissues of similar attenuation coefficients
- Does not give a superimposed image
- Disadvantages:
- More Expensive
- Can expose people to the equivalent background raditiation of several years
- Patients have to remain very still, or a blurred image is given
Define medical tracer
A radioisotope which has been chemically combine with elements that will target the desired tissues to make a radiopharmaceutical (medical tracer)
Descrive the use and decay of and into Technetium-99m, and explain what the ‘m’ means
Tc-99m has a half life of six hours and used as a gamma emitter when using a gamma camera.
It is formed naturally by the beta- decay of molybenum-99 (Mo-99) which has a half life of 67 hours. It decays into Tc-99 by gamma decay, and Tc-99 has a half life of 210000 years.
Tc-99m is most commonly used in gamma cameras
‘m’ stands for metastable, meaning it stays in a higher energy state for longer than expected.
Descrive how a gamma camera works
- The gamma photons from medical tracer are emitted
- The photons travel through a colimator
- The photons hit the scintillator, which turn the gamma photons into light photons
- The light photons travel into a photomultiplier tube which causes the light to be turned into an electrical signal, allowing it to be detected by a computer and a high quality image is constructed
Descrive the use of a collimator in a gamma camera
A collimator allows only gamma photons travelling parallel to it to pass through, so the source of the gamma photons can be detected. Collimators are made of lead tubes, so the photons not travelling parallel are aborbed by it the tubes
Describe how a scintilator works in a gamma cammera
The scintillator material is a crystal, often sodium iodide, and a single gamma photon produces thousands of light photons when it reaches a scintiallator
Describe how a photomultiplier tube works in a gammer camera
These tubes are arranged in a hexagonal pattern, and it converts the light entering the tube into an electrical signal
Describe the use of Flourine-18 (F-18) as a medical tracer and its decay.
F-18 decays by beta+ decay, producing a positron and F-18 has a half life of around 110 minutes.
F-18 is used during PET scans, as it produces positrons which annihilate to form two gamma rays of equal magnitude, but moving in opposite directions.
Describe how a PET (Positron emission tomography) scan works
- The patient is injected with a medical tracer
- The gamma detectors detect the gamma photons from anhilated positrons
- As the photons travel in opposite directions (to conserve momentum) with the same amount of energy, the computer can determine the point of annihilation from the difference in arrival times, and this allows the computer to form a slice image showing the different concentrations of the tracer.
Describe the advantages and disadvantages of a PET scan
- Advantages
- Non-invasive
- Plan for complex surgery
- Diagnose different types of cancer
- Diagnose different types of brain disorders
- Assess the effect of new medicines and drugs on organs
- Disadvantages
- Extremely expensive, so only patients with complex health problems are recommened for PET scans
Define Ultrasound
A longitudinal wave with frequency above 20kHz (human hearing)
Describe the piezoelectric effect
When a piezoelectric crystal has an e.m.f. applied to it, it causes it to compress and stretch, and this causes a pulse of ultrasound to be emitted
When a piezoelectric crystal has a force applied to it, it causes it to compress and stretch, inducing and e.m.f. in the crystal
Describe the use of an ultrasound transducer
An ultrasound transducer emits pulses of ultrasounds and receives them, using a piezoelectric crystal.
Describe what an A-scan is and explain its uses.
An A-scan uses a single transducer to record along a straight line within a patient, and can be used to determine the thickness of bone or the distance between the lens and retinca in the eye, and gives a graph of voltage against time.
Describe how ultrasound works in medical imaging
- A pulse of ultra sound is send from a transducer
- Each pulse is partially transmitted and partly reflected at each medium boundary
- The reflected pulse is received by the transducer, and the intensity and time taken to return can be used to determine an image
Describe what a B-scan is and explain how it works
A B-Scan (Brightness Scan) gives a 2D image of the patient, in a cone shape.
- Transducer is moved over patient’s skin
- Output of the transducer is conncted to a high speed computer
- Each position of the transducer produces a row of dots on the screen, which corresponds to a boundary between two tissues
- The brightness of the dot is proportional to the intensity of the relfected ultrasound pulse
Define Acoustic Impedance
The product of the density of the substance and the speed of ultrasound in that substance. Units: kg m-2 s-1
Explain the use of coupling gel in an ultrasound scan
As the air skin boundary would reflect almost all of the incident ultrasound, a coupling gel is used with a similar impedance similar to that of skin. This fills the air gaps between the transducer and the skin, meaning that very little reflection occurs at this boundary
Define Impedance/acoustic matching
When two substances have similar values of acoustic impedance
Explain the Doppler effect
When the bunching up/spreading out of a wave from a moving object changes its frequency
Explain how Doppler imaging works
- The ultrasound transducer is pressed lightly over the skin above the blood vessel at an angle
- The transducer sends pulses of ultrasound and receives relflected pulses from inside the patient.
- The frequency shift is measured and this is used to determine the speed and direction of the blood moving in the patient.
Describe the Alpha-Scattering experiment
- A nattow beam of alpha particles, all of the same kinetic energy, were targeted at a thin piece of gold foil, which was only a few atoms thick
- Alpha particles were scattered by the foil and detected on a screen mounted in front of a microscope
- Each alpha particle hitting this screen produced a tiny speck of light
- The microscope was moved around in order to see the number alpha partices per minute was being scattered in each region around the foil.
Explain the effect the Alpha-Scattering experiment had on model of the atom
- Most atoms passed straight through - most of the atom was empty space, with the mass concentrated in a small region
- A few of the alpha particles where scattered more than 90° - the nucleus had a positive charge overall, for it repelled the few alpha particles which came near it
Describe the basic structure of the nuclear model
A nucleus made up of protons and neutrons with electrons arranged in energy levels around the nucleus
Describe the the relationship between the radius of a nucleus and its nucleon number
R ∝ A1/3
Describe the nature of the strong nuclear force
It acts between all nucleons and its a very short range force of attraction. The force is attractive to about 3 fm and repulsive below about 0.5 fm
Describe the relationship between particles and antiparticles
Particles and antiparticles have the same mass, but everything else is opposite (e.g. electrons and positrons both have the same mass, but have opposite charges and lepton number) and will annihilate each other when they meet.
Describe what a hadron is
A hadron is a particle or antiparticle which is affected by the strong nuclear fource, and decay by the weak nuclear force
Describe what a lepton is
A lepton is a particle or antiparticle which is not affected by the strong nuclear force.
Give three examples of quarks
Up, Down and Strange (and there respective anti-quarks)
Describe the quark model of a proton
UUD (Up, Up, Down)
Describe the quark model of a neutron
UDD (Up, Down, Down)
Explain the difference between a baryon and a meson
- Both are hadrons:
- Baryons are made up of three quarks
- Mesons are made up of a combination of a quark and an anti-quark
Describe what β- decay is, and include the quark model
Type of radioactive decay which emitts a high speed electron
n → p+ + e- + -νe
d → u + e- + -νe
Describe what β+ decay is, and include the quark model
Type of radioactive decay which emitts a high speed positron
p+ → n + e+ + νe
u → d + e+ + νe
What four things need to be conserved in a nuclear decay?
- Momentum
- Baryon Number
- Lepton Number
- Charge
As mass and energy can change, they are not conserved individually, but conserved together.