Nuclear Medicine (Erin) Flashcards
What is the energy of gamma emission released from Tcm99?
140keV
What is the most common type of gamma camera?
Parallel
How does half life change with temperature?
It doesn’t
Half life of isotope is fixed
What is the half life of Tc99
200,000 years
What is the half life of Tcm99
6 hours
What is the half life of Iodine 123
13 hours
What is the half life of Iodine 131
8 days
What is the half life of Fluorine-18
110 min
How is effective half life calculated
1/effective half life
= 1/biological half life + 1/physical half life
In NM:
Which type of collimator is used to image the thyroid?
Pin hole collimator
In NM:
Which type of collimator gives a magnified view?
Converging collimator
In NM:
Which type of collimator gives a minified view?
Diverging collimator
In NM:
What is the crystal in a gamma camera made from?
Single crystal of sodium iodide dopes with thallium
Does a broad photopeak with a large full width half maximum (FWHM) demonstrate an efficient or inefficient system?
Inefficient
How do PET isotopes decay?
By positron emission
Describe positron emission
Proton heavy nucleus converts proton to neutron
Released position
The positron usually combines with an electron somewhere (annihilation) to release a pair of gamma rays
What happens to the atomic number in positron emission?
Decreases by 1
What happens to the mass number in positron emission?
Stays the same
What type of radiation does Tc99m release?
140keV Gamma radiation is release via Isomeric transition
What is the half life of Mo99?
66 hours
Describe beta negative decay
Neutron rich nucleus
Converts neutron to proton
Releasing electron and uncharged antineutrino
What happens to the atomic number in beta decay?
Increases by 1
What happens to the mass number in beta decay?
Unchanged
Describe isomeric transition
Following radioactive decay daughter nucleus can be left in excited state
Can remain in this excited state for a period of time before emitting excess energy as gamma ray
What happens to the atomic and mass number during isomeric transition?
Nothing
Remains the same
Describe internal conversion
Instead of gamma emission
Excited radionuclide transferred energy to inner shell electron which is then emitted with high energy
Characteristic xrays then produced from rearrangement of electrons
What types of scintillation crystal is used in PET?
Bismuth germanate (BGO)
lutetium oxyorthosilicate (LSO)
gadolinium oxyorthosilicate (GSO)
What is the MOST COMMON type of scintillation used in PET?
Bismuth germanate (BGO)
What energy of gamma rays are emitted during annihilation?
511keV
Does reduced patient to camera distance improve or worsen spatial resolution?
Improves
Does increased patient to camera distance improve or reduce spatial resolution?
Reduces
What is the effect of increasing collimator hole length on SR
Improves SR
What is the effect of reducing collimator hole length on SR
Reduced SR
What is the effect of increasing collimator hole length on collimator sensitivity?
Reduces sensitivity
What is the effect of decreasing collimator hole length on collimator sensitivity?
Increases sensitivity
What is the effect of decreasing hole diameter on SR?
Improves SR
What is the Effect of increasing collimator hole diameter on SR?
Reduced SR
What is the effect of increasing collimator hole diameter on collimator sensitivity?
Increases sensitivity
What is the effect of decreasing collimator hole diameter on collimator sensitivity?
Decreases sensitivity
What is the typical spatial resolution in nuclear medicine images?
10 FWHM mm
(0.05lp/mm)
What controls contrast in NM imaging
Mainly controlled by relative uptake of the tracer in different tissues within the patient
Does scatter in NM improve or reduce contrast?
Scatter reduces contrast
How does PHA affect contrast/scatter when narrow/wide?
Narrower PHA rejects more scatter and improves contrast
Wider PHA accepts more scatter and recduces contrast
What is the typical PHA window width
Typically 15-20% of the photopeak
What is the effect of a lower resolution collimator on noise
Reduces noise
As allows more gamma rays to be detected
What is the effect of longer acquisition time on noise?
Reduces noise
As allows more gamma rays to be detected
But lower SR
What is the effect of increased injected activity on noise?
Reduces noise
As allows more gamma rays to be detected
What is the effect of shorter acquisition times on noise?
Increases noise
Less time for gamma rays to be detected - less gamma rays detected
What is the effect of a higher resolution collimator on noise
Increases noise
Less gamma rays detected
But higher SR
What is the effect of decreased injected activity on noise?
More noise as less gamma rays detected
How does Gallium-67 decay?
electron capture
It has too few neutrons
How does Technetium 99m decay?
Via gamma emission
How does Iodine-131 decay
via beta emission
How does Fluorine-18 decay
By positron emittion
How does Mo99 decay to 99mTc
By beta emission
What type of atom is emitted during alpha decay
Helium atom
What happens to the atomic number in alpha decay
Decreases by 2
What happens to the mass number in alpha decay
Decreases by 4
How long is a technetium generator useful for?
5 days
What does 99TC decay to?
99Ru
Why is Iodine 131 unstable and therefore how does it decay?
Has too m any neutrons
Decays via beta emission
Why is Fluorine-18 unstable and how does it therefore decay?
Has too many protons (too few neutrons)
Do decays via positron emission
Why is Mo99 unstable and therefore how does it decay?
It has too many neutrons
Decays via beta emission
What is the effect of higher energy gamma ray emission on patient dose?
Decreases patient does as less interaction/absorption in patient tissues
What is the effect of a short effective half life on patient dose?
When Teff is short, activity rapidly disappears from the body and the effective dose is lower
Does the radiosensitive weighting of tissues targeted by the radionuclide in NM affect patient dose?
Yes
Tissues targeted that have a higher tissue weighting factor will experiences an increased effective dose
Does an increase administered activity increase or decrease dose?
Increases dose
What is the effect of a high cut of frequency filter in filtered back projection?
Sharper features (better SR)
Higher noise
What is the effect of a low cut of frequency filter in filtered back projection on SR and noise?
Smoother features (worse SR)
Lower noise
What does OSEM stand for? What is it?
Ordered subset expectation maximisation
The most common reconstruction algorithm for PET images
Does the collimator in nuclear imaging reject scatter
NO
What is the role of dynodes in a PMT?
Held at increasingly positive potential to each other
Electrons accelerated towards them
Electron accelerated by potential differences and gain kinetic energy
Also generate new electrons
ELECTRON AMPLIFIER
How do PET isotopes decay?
Via positron emission
What is the effect of a smaller FWHM (full width half maximum) on SR
Improves SR
What is the effect of a larger FWHM (full width half maximum) on SR?
Reduces SR
What is the effect of a high resolution collimator in SPECT on SR?
Improves SR
What is the effect of a low resolution collimator in SPECT on SR?
Reduces SR
What is the effect of acquiring a larger number of projections in SPECT on SR?
Improves SR
What is the effect of acquiring a lower number of projections in SPECT on SR?
Reduces SR
What is the typical spatial resolution in SPECT (in FWHM)
10-15mm FWHM
What is the effect of iterative reconstruction on attenuation and scatter in SPECT?
Provides attenuation correction and attenuation correct
Improving contrast
What types of artefact can camera non uniformity cause in SPECT?
Ring artefacts
How is attenuation variation typically corrected for in SPECT?
By using a low dose CT
Name some examples of positron nuclides used in PET scanning
F18
C11
N13
In PET what is the line between the detectors called?
Line of response
In PET what is a true coincidence
When both 511keV gamma rays from a single annihilation event interact with a pair of detectors without prior scattering in the patient
In PET:
What happens to the number of random events compared to true events when activity administered to patient increases
The number of random events increases much faster than the number of true events
In PET:
What is a random coincidence?
When two gamma rays interact with a pair of detectors but each gamma ray has come from a different annihilation event
Line of response does not correspond to the position of either of the two annihilations
In PET:
What is a scatter coincidence?
Occurs when one/or both of the gamma rays from a single annihilation event undergoes compton scatter interaction in the patient before being detected
Line of respond does not correspond to the position of the annihilation
Is NaI crystal used in PET scanners
No
Why are BGO or LSO crystals used in PET scanning rather than NaI (like is used in planar)
Because BGO and LSO are better than NaI for detection of 511keV gamma rays
What is the SR of PET scans at the centre?
4mm FWHM
What is the SR of PET scants at the periphery
5mm FWHM
What 3 factors affect SR in PET?
Distance travelled by positron before annihilation
Non-colinearity
Size of individual detectors
What is non-colinearity in PET?
What effect does this have?
2 annihilation gamma rays are not emitted at exactly 180 degrees to each other
Causes blurring with increases with the radius of the PET detector ring
Is the SR of a PET scanner better at the centre of periphery of the detector?
SR of a PET scanner is best at the centre of the image and degrades towards the periphery
Why types of scintillators are used for TOF PET
LSO or LYSO
What is the purpose of time of flight PET
used to improve the accuracy of the reconstruction
As measures the time difference between the arrival of the gammas
Does TOF PET improve or reduce SR
Improves SR
Is the demand for FDG greater in normal tissue or tumour tissue
Tumour tissue
What is the adult dose of 18FDG (in MBq/kg)
3MBq/kg
What is the effective dose from 18FDG administration
5-8mSv
What are the typical administered activities in 18FDG studies (MBq) for an adult?
200-350 MBq
What is the typical study time for FDG18 scans
20 minutes
What causes a cold artifact in PET scanning
Created due to different patterns of breathing between the (much shorted) CT scan and the longer PET scan
What can help reduce the effect of cold artefact
Asking the patient to use shallow breathing
What does SUV stand for
Standard Uptake Value
What is SUV the ratio of
FDG concentration in tissue: to injected activity per kg of the patient
What can SUV be used to differentiate between
Benign and malignant lesions
And assess treatment response
What is the rough cut off in SUV between malignant and benign lesions
2.5
What factors can affect SUV (5)
Corrections applied to the PET data
Method of image reconstruction
Region of interest selected
Delay between injection and scan
Lean vs total body mass patient
Is the SR in PET or SPECT better
PET
In PET:
What is the effect of longer acquisition times per bed position on image noise
Longer times reduce noise
A MAG3 scan is dynamic or static?
Dynamic
T/F - A DTPA scan is safe in patients with renal failure?
False. DTPA is cleared via glomeruli.
DMSA scan is static or dynamic?
Static
Kidney Imaging - what are DMSA, DTPA and MAg3 used for?
DMSA - Kidney cortex
DTPA - eGFR
MAG3 - renal plasma flow
What is SPECT?
3D version of planar, takes 30mins and uses multiple cameras and the images taken are overlaid.
What is the effect of a high resolution collimator on SPECT image quality?
Improved SR
What is the effect of acquiring a larger number of projections on SR in SPECT?
Improved SR
What is the effect of using a high cut off filter during reconstruction on SR in SPECT?
Improved SR
Why are SPECT images noisy? (3)
High resolution collimators
Limited time per projection
Mean low number of detected gamma rays
What type of artefacts does camera non-uniformity cause in SPECT?
Ring artefacts
How is CT used in SPECT imaging?
To correct SPECT images for attenuation (Attenuation correction)
Provided using low dose CT scan
In PET imaging:
What happens to the number of random events (compared to the number of true events) as the activity administered increased?
The number of random events increases much faster to the number of true events
In gamma imaging does the collimator reject scatter?
No
In gamma imaging:
What is the role of the pulse height analyser window on image contrast?
Attempts to reject scatter
To improve image contrast
In NM imaging how does a lower resolution collimator affect noise?
Reduced noise as more gamma rays accepted
However this reduces SR
In NM how does longer acquisition time affect random noise?
Reduces noise
(however more change of motion artefact)
In NM how does increased injected activity affect random noise?
Reduced noise
(however higher patient dose)
In NM:
How does administered activity affect patient dose?
More injected activity
Higher patient dose
In NM:
How does the energy of emitted gamma rays affect patient dose?
Higher the energy of gamma rays the less the patient dose
As higher energy gamma rays experience fewer interactions and less absorption in tissue
Therefore the dose will be less
In NM:
How does the bio-distribution of the pharmaceutical affect patient dose?
If the tracer is taken up but radiosensitive organs (i.e those with a high tissue weighting factor)
Then the effective dose (measured in Sv) will be increased
In NM:
How does the effective half life of radionuclide affect patient dose?
When half life is short - rapidly disappears from the body and the effective dose will be lower
What is the effective dose from FDG18 administration
5-8mSv
What is the effective dose from initial (low dose) CT in 18FDG scans
4-6mSv
Is a collimator required for PET scanning?
No
Relies on coincidence detection
What is the spatial resolution in PET imaging?
FWHM of 4-5mm
(0.2 lp/mm)
What does spatial resolution depend on in PET scanning (3)
Coincidence detection
Size of detectors and radius of detector ring
Choice of filter during reconstruction
Are NaI detectors used in PET scanning?
No
How is fluorine 18 (FDG) used in PET scanning produced?
In a cyclotron
by bombarding 18-Oxygen with protons
How does a cyclotron produce raidonuclides?
By bombarding stable nuclei with highly energetic charged particles (typically protons)
Forcing neutrons out of the nucleus
What are the two methods by which nuclear reactors create radionuclides?
Extraction of fission products
Production by neutron activation
What is the disadvantage of nuclear reactors?
Relatively low yield of the desired radioisotope and the substantial production of other radioisotopes
What are common radioisotopes produced in a nuclear reactor?
Mo 99 (by neutron bombardment)
131 I (by fission)
What is the septal thickness, max keV, and radionuclide used for low energy collimators?
Thickness = 0.3mm
Max keV = 150
Radionuclide = 99mTc
What is the septal thickness, max keV, and radionuclide used for medium energy collimators?
Thickness =1mm
Max keV = 300
Radionuclide Indium -111
What is the septal thickness, max keV, and radionuclide used for high energy collimators?
Thickness =2mm
Max keV = 400
Radionuclide - Iodine 131
How thick are the scintillation crystals in gamma cameras?
About 10mm
Name 3 examples of static planar imaging
DMSA renal scan
Bone scan
Lung perfusion scan
Name 3 examples od dynamic planar imaging
MAG3 renal scan
Gallbladder emptying scan
Gastric emptying scan
When is gated imaging used in planar imaging?
When study organs have regular physiological motion
e.g cardiac imaging
What is the typical matrix size for static imaging
256x256
What is the typical matrix size for dynamic imaging?
128x128
or
256x256
What is the typical matrix size for gated cardiac imaging
64 x 64
What material are collimators typically made of
Lead
Why are collimators typically made of lead
Due to high linear attenuation co-efficient
Which has a thicker septa? Collimator used for 99Tcm imaging or collimator used for 131 Iodine imaging?
131 Iodine (keV = 364)
Note keV for 99Tcm = 140
What happens if the septa in the collimator is too thin for the radionuclide used?
Increased probability of penetration by gamma photons that are not travelling parallel to the axes of the hole
Called septal penetration
What is the result of septal penetration on image quality
Reduced image quality
How many photomultiplier tubes are in a typical gamma camera
30-100
What percentage of TC99m decays via internal conversion?
10%
90% is via isomeric transition
What is electron capture?
Radioactive decay method
Proton rich nucleus captures a K shell electron to neutralise its positivity
Rearranging of the electron shells emits characteristic X-rays
What is the decay constant?
The fraction of all the radioactive atoms in a sample that are disintegrating each second
Substance dependent
How do you extract TC99m from a molybdenum technetium generator?
Pass saline through the molybdenum source
What is the optimum time interval of extracting technetium from the generator?
23 hours
What is the PHA for Technetium 99m?
Window is 126-154 keV
In nuclear medicine does the Collimator reject scatter?
No it has no role in scatter rejection in nuclear medicine
How to increase spatial resolution in nuclear medicine studies? (3)
- Decrease patient to camera distance
- Increase collimator resolution
- Decrease patient motion
Typical spatial resolution in nuclear medicine studies?
0.05 line pairs per mm
How to increase contrast in Nuclear medicine studies?
Narrower Pulse height analyser window to reject more scatter
How to reduce noise in nuclear medicine studies? (3)
- Use a lower resolution collimator
- Longer acquisition times
- Increase injected activity
What 2 general factors affect patient dose from a radionuclide?
- Increase number of disintegrations in patient
- Energy deposition per disintegration
How is spatial resolution in SPECT affected by resolution of collimator?
High resolution collimator gives high spatial resolution
How to reduce Noise in Spect? (3)
- Inject more activity of radionuclide
- Choice of reconstruction filter
- Use resolution recovery reconstruction
How to reduce noise in PET? (2)
- 3D acquisition
- longer acquisition time per bed position
Alpha radiation vs Beta emission
Which is more strongly ionising?
Which is more penetrating?
Alpha is more strongly ionising
Beta is more penetrating
The main artefact with back projection is …? Which occurs around which areas?
Star/streak artefact
Hot areas
Isotopes share chemical properties or physical properties?
Only share chemical properties
Tc99 decays by…?
Beta emission
SPECT: How is spatial resolution affected by large number of projections?
Improves resolution
SPECT: How is spatial resolution affected by a high cut-off filter during reconstruction?
Improves resolution
SPECT: How is spatial resolution affected by circular orbits?
Reduced resolution
Non-circular is better for resolution
True or false: Radionuclides decay exponentially
True