Radiological Physics and Nuclear Medicine

Code:

F/MED4001

Acronym:

F/MED4001

Level:

400

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Physics / Medicine

Instance: 2022/2023 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Physics and Astronomy
Course/CS Responsible:	Master in Medical Physics

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
M:FM	4	Study plan since 2013/2014	1	-	6	49	162

Teaching language

Suitable for English-speaking students

Objectives

- To address the physical principles, basic equipment, mathematical and computational methods, and the implementation of some relevant techniques of medical imaging in the field of radiology, computed tomography and nuclear medicine.

- To address quality control methods for different imaging techniques and develop the ability to implement quality control programs using common software in hospital environment.

- To address the image characteristics and the influence of user-controllable parameters for relevant medical imaging techniques.

- To understand the working principles of medical imaging techniques and of the global physical aspects of their application: radiography, digital radiography, fluoroscopy, mammography, angiography, computed tomography.

 

Learning outcomes and competences

The medical imaging techniques based on x-rays and nuclear techniques are very important in medical diagnostics. A deep knowledge of the physics involved in these techniques and of the image reconstruction algorithms are essential for those who want to work in a hospital or business environment, or in biomedical research. The capacity of images manipulation and the use of specific software for diagnostic image quality assessment is a condition for efficient work in Medical Physics Department. The syllabus covers the fundamental issues in the area of radiological imaging and nuclear techniques, with reference to the quality control procedures for equipment and processes.

Working method

Presencial

Program

Radiation-matter interactions of interest in radiology. Physics and technology for X-ray production. Basic equipment for planar radiography. Optics and image theory. Film-screen systems vs digital radiology. Fluoroscopy, angiography, interventional radiology. Mammography. Computed tomography, image reconstruction, procedures and artefacts. Quality control. Data extraction and manipulation of DICOM images.  Image quality evaluation.

Introduction to Nuclear Medicine; Radiopharmacy; production of radiopharmaceuticals; detectors in Nuclear Medicine; image formation; image modalities CT) equipements and quality control. Software for image quality assessment and exercises.

Mandatory literature

J. Bushberg; The Essential Physics of Medical Imaging 3rd Ed, 2011. ISBN: 978-0781780575
Bushberg Jerrold T. 070; The essential physics of medical imaging. ISBN: 0-683-30118-7
D.R. Dance S. Christofides A.D.A. Maidment I.D. McLean K.H. Ng; Diagnostic Radiology Physics: A Handbook for Teachers and Students, IAEA, 2014. ISBN: 978-92-0-131010-1 (available for download from IAEA webpage)
Cherry Simon R.; Physics in nuclear medicine. ISBN: 0-7216-3341-X
Saha Gopal B.; Physics and radiobiology of nuclear medicine. ISBN: 0-387-95021-4

Complementary Bibliography

Bruce Hasegawa; Physics of Medical X-ray Imaging, Medical Physics Pub., 1991. ISBN: 0944838235
Dendy P. P.; Physics for diagnostic radiology. ISBN: 0-7503-0591-6
Hsieh Jiang; Computed tomography. ISBN: 0-8194-4425-1

Teaching methods and learning activities

Lectures, problem solving classes; lessons in a hospital environment.

The presentation in the lectures is organized in accordance with the syllabus and the intended outcomes, and frequent examples are given to help the students in their own study, including frequent references to subjects studied in other courses. The students are encouraged to work the problems and proposed exercises before lessons, where some of them are discussed and solved. The exercises and proposed problems cover the topics and calculation methods presented in UC, with various levels of difficulty. There is particular attention to the confrontation between the experimental results and predicted by models studied.

Students are encouraged to solve problems outside of class time, to create them habits of autonomy, independence and responsibility, avoiding that practical classes become routinely problem-solving lessons they watch. The individual problem solving intends to consolidate the knowledge and develop calculation skills and analysis that the final exam will assess more rigorously.

Students are also encouraged to read in a critical manner a few recommended papers about the topics of the syllabus, and present or discuss the main results of these papers. 

 

Software

ImageJ

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

designation	Weight (%)
Exame	80,00
Participação presencial	20,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	113,00
Frequência das aulas	49,00
Total:	162,00

Eligibility for exams

Minimum of 50% of lectures frequency

Assessment:

Final Exam (50% Radiologia + 50% Medicina Nuclear)

Calculation formula of final grade

Evaluation formula: 50% (Radiology) + 50% (Nuclear Medicine)