Topic 1 - Radiation and Treatment Flashcards
How can X-rays be used in medical imaging?
- High energy EM waves, absorbed by dense materials (e.g. bone, metal)
- Radiographers: use these properties for photographs for diagnoses e.g. bone fractures
- Ionising radiation so health risk
How can X-rays be used in CAT scanning?
- CAT, computerised axial tomography
- Use X-rays to produce 2D slice through body
- Use intense beams of X-rays that are strongly ionising
- Can image soft tissue, not just bones
How do endoscopes work?
- Use visible light, not ionising
- Reflect light along optical fibres
- See inside patient to investigate problems without invasive surgery
- Can be used for keyhole surgery
What are the three ways ultrasound can be used medically?
- Breaking down kidney stones
- Pre-natal scanning of a foetus
- Measuring speed of blood flow
What is ultrasound?
- Sound waves with frequencies above 20kHz, above range of human hearing
- Non-ionising so safer than ionising
How is ultrasound used to break down kidney stones?
- Kidney stones: hard masses that can block urinary tract, painful
- Ultrasound beam concentrates high energy waves at kidney stone
- Turns it into sand like particles
- Pass out patient’s body in urine
- No surgery and relatively painless
How is ultrasound used in pre-natal scanning of a foetus?
- Ultrasound imaging: diagnose soft tissue problems and perform pre-natal scans of foetus in womb
- U.sound waves reflected off the different tissue boundaries
- Times/distributions of echoes processed by computer to form image on a screen
How is ultrasound used in measuring the speed of blood flow?
- Works in real time
- Can show things moving/changing
- Can investigate blood flow, particularly in heart/liver
- Can measure the speed of blood flow by special u.sound machines
- Can identify blockages in veins/arteries
What is radiation?
Energy emitted from a source
Can be in the form of a wave or particle
What two factors affect the intensity of radiation?
- Distance from source
- What it’s passing through: some radiation absorbed by medium passing through (unless in vacuum)
What is the general rule of how much radiation is absorbed by a medium it passes through?
Denser mediums absorb more energy, so decrease intensity more
If radiation has a greater intensity, what must also be greater?
More energy it carries per second or higher power (higher power=more energy transferred per second when hits an object)
How does surface area affect the amount of radiation it absorbs?
Greater surface area means more radiation hits it, so catches more
What is the equation for intensity?
Intensity=power/area
What is intensity measured in?
W/m^2
What is refraction?
When radiation changes direction as it enters a different medium
What causes refraction?
The change in density from one medium to another, therefore changing the speed
How does radiation refract when it slows down?
Bends towards the normal
What happens if radiation hits a boundary at 90⁰?
Does not change direction but does slow down
What happens to a light when it hits a different medium?
Some light reflected, and some will pass through (refraction), depending on the angle of incidence, i
What are the two main types of lenses?
Converging and diverging
What shape is a converging lens and how does it affect the light?
- Convex
- Cause parallel rays to converge (move together) to focus at the lens focal point, F
What shape is a diverging lens and how does it affect the light?
- Concave (caves inwards causing parallel rays to diverge [spread out])
- Focal point is point where rays hitting the lens parallel to the axis appear to come from, trace them back until they all meet up at point behind the lens
- Focal length: distance between middle of lens and focal point
What are the three rules for refraction in a converging lens?
- An incident ray parallel to the axis refracts through the lens and passes through the focal point on the other side
- An incident ray passing through the focal point before entering the lens will refract through the lens and travel parallel to the axis
- An incident ray passing through the centre of the lens carries on in the same direction
What are the three rules for refraction in a diverging lens?
- An incident ray parallel to the axis refracts through the len, and travels in line with the focal point (so it appears to have come from the focal point)
- An incident ray passing towards the focal point refract through the lens and travels and parallel to the axis
- An incident ray passing through the centre of the lens carries on in the same direction
What type of image does a diverging lens always create?
Virtual
Right way up, smaller than object on same side of lens, despite object location
What is the correlation between power and focal length?
The more powerful the lens, the more strongly it converges, so shorter focal length