Sources & Types Flashcards
Cosmic radiation
Extraterrestrial in origin, higher intensity at a higher altitude
Natural/Background Radiation
Cosmic, terrestrial, and internal radiation.
Very little can be done about this.
Terrestrial radiation
Natural products of planet earth, for example radon gas
Radon gas
The largest source of natural radiation exposure
Internal radiation
Natural products found within the human body
Radioactivity
the property possessed by some elements (as uranium) or isotopes (as carbon 14) of spontaneously emitting energetic particles (as electrons or alpha particles) by the disintegration of their atomic nuclei
Man made/artificial radiation
CT, nuclear medicine, interventional fluoroscopy, medical X-ray, consumer products, occupational, industrial, primary medical
Medical radiation
Primary source of man made radiation
CT, nuclear medicine, interventional fluoroscopy, conventional X-ray
Consumer products
Cathode ray tubes, smoke detectors
Industrial
Radiation used in industrial applications
Nuclear fallout
Radioactive debris from nuclear detonations
Leakage radiation
Leaves the tube housing at a point other than the window
Primary radiation
Created in the X-ray tube, proceeds towards the patient
Secondary radiation
Created at a point other than the X-ray tube
Scatter radiation
Primary X-ray redirected due to interaction with matter
Effects of scatter
Bad for the image, carries no anatomical information, adds useless density into the image receptor/image, veil of gray.
Scatter production varies by
X-ray beam field size.
As the area increases, scatter increases.
Thickness of tissue increases, scatter increases.
Lower density tissue scatters more bad absorbs less.
As KVP increases, scatter production increases.
Collimator
A primary tool used to minimize the production of scatter
Grid
A primary tool used to minimize the impact of scatter
Remnant radiation
Primary X-ray that passes through the patient
Photon/Quanta/Ray
The smallest quantity of any type of electromagnetic energy, a small bundle of energy.
Electromagnetic energy
Energy in transit through space, bundles of pure energy, no mass, no charge, speed of light, waveform movement
Common properties to all forms of EMR
Bundles of pure energy, no mass, no charge, speed of light (c), waveform movement
Frequency
The number of wavelengths that pass a given point per second
Measured in hertz (Hz)
Wavelength
The distance from one crest to the next, or valley to valley
Measured in meters
Represented by the Greek letter lambda