Nuclear medicine physics: A handbook for students and teachers

766 Pages·2016·19.22 MB·English

by  Bailey D.L., Humm J.L., Todd-Pokropek A., van Aswegen A. (Technical Editors)

Nuclear Medicine Physics
This handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the medical physics
knowledge required in the fi eld of nuclear medicine. It is intended for teachers,
students and residents involved in medical physics programmes. It wil serve A Handbook for Teachers and Students
as a resource for interested readers from other disciplines, for example,
nuclear medicine physicians, radiochemists and medical technologists, who
would like to familiarize themselves with the basic concepts and practice of
nuclear medicine physics. Physics is a vital aspect of nearly every area of
nuclear medicine, including imaging instrumentation, image processing and
reconstruction, data analysis, radionuclide production, radionuclide therapy,
radiopharmacy, radiation protection and biology. The 20 chapters of this
handbook include a broad coverage of topics relevant to nuclear medicine
physics. The authors and reviewers were drawn from a variety of regions and
were selected because of their knowledge, teaching experience and scientifi c
acumen. This book was written to address an urgent need for a comprehensive,
contemporary text on the physics of nuclear medicine and has been endorsed
by several international and national organizations. It complements similar p(x)
texts in radiation oncology physics and diagnostic radiology physics published
by the IAEA.
f(x,y)
z
x
z
y
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D.L. Bailey
J.L. Humm
A. Todd-Pokropek
A. van Aswegen
Technical Editors
International Atomic Energy Agency
Vienna
ISBN 978–92–0–143810–2 1 @
Nuclear Medicine Physics
A Handbook for Teachers and Students
Nuclear MediciNe Physics:
a haNdbook for Teachers aNd
sTudeNTs
The following states are Members of the international atomic energy agency:
afGhaNisTaN GhaNa oMaN
albaNia Greece PakisTaN
alGeria GuaTeMala Palau
aNGola haiTi PaNaMa
arGeNTiNa holy see PaPua NeW GuiNea
arMeNia hoNduras ParaGuay
ausTralia huNGary Peru
ausTria icelaNd PhiliPPiNes
aZerbaiJaN iNdia PolaNd
bahaMas iNdoNesia PorTuGal
bahraiN iraN, islaMic rePublic of QaTar
baNGladesh iraQ rePublic of MoldoVa
belarus irelaNd roMaNia
belGiuM israel russiaN federaTioN
beliZe iTaly rWaNda
beNiN JaMaica saN MariNo
boliVia JaPaN saudi arabia
bosNia aNd herZeGoViNa JordaN seNeGal
boTsWaNa kaZakhsTaN serbia
braZil keNya seychelles
bruNei darussalaM korea, rePublic of sierra leoNe
bulGaria kuWaiT siNGaPore
burkiNa faso kyrGyZsTaN sloVakia
buruNdi lao PeoPle’s deMocraTic sloVeNia
caMbodia rePublic souTh africa
caMerooN laTVia sPaiN
caNada lebaNoN sri laNka
ceNTral africaN lesoTho sudaN
rePublic liberia sWaZilaNd
chad libya sWedeN
chile liechTeNsTeiN sWiTZerlaNd
chiNa liThuaNia syriaN arab rePublic
coloMbia luXeMbourG TaJikisTaN
coNGo MadaGascar ThailaNd
cosTa rica MalaWi The forMer yuGoslaV
cÔTe d’iVoire Malaysia rePublic of MacedoNia
croaTia Mali ToGo
cuba MalTa TriNidad aNd TobaGo
cyPrus Marshall islaNds TuNisia
cZech rePublic MauriTaNia, islaMic Turkey
deMocraTic rePublic rePublic of uGaNda
of The coNGo MauriTius ukraiNe
deNMark MeXico uNiTed arab eMiraTes
doMiNica MoNaco uNiTed kiNGdoM of
doMiNicaN rePublic MoNGolia GreaT briTaiN aNd
ecuador MoNTeNeGro NorTherN irelaNd
eGyPT Morocco uNiTed rePublic
el salVador MoZaMbiQue of TaNZaNia
eriTrea MyaNMar uNiTed sTaTes of aMerica
esToNia NaMibia uruGuay
eThioPia NePal uZbekisTaN
fiJi NeTherlaNds VeNeZuela, boliVariaN
fiNlaNd NeW ZealaNd rePublic of
fraNce NicaraGua VieT NaM
GaboN NiGer yeMeN
GeorGia NiGeria ZaMbia
GerMaNy NorWay ZiMbabWe
The agency’s statute was approved on 23 october 1956 by the conference on the statute of the
iaea held at united Nations headquarters, New york; it entered into force on 29 July 1957. The
headquarters of the agency are situated in Vienna. its principal objective is “to accelerate and enlarge the
contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world’’.
The following states are Members of the international atomic energy agency:
afGhaNisTaN GhaNa oMaN
albaNia Greece PakisTaN
alGeria GuaTeMala Palau
aNGola haiTi PaNaMa
arGeNTiNa holy see PaPua NeW GuiNea
arMeNia hoNduras ParaGuay
ausTralia huNGary Peru
ausTria icelaNd PhiliPPiNes
aZerbaiJaN iNdia PolaNd
bahaMas iNdoNesia PorTuGal
bahraiN iraN, islaMic rePublic of QaTar
baNGladesh iraQ rePublic of MoldoVa
belarus irelaNd roMaNia
belGiuM israel russiaN federaTioN
beliZe iTaly rWaNda Nuclear MediciNe Physics:
beNiN JaMaica saN MariNo
boliVia JaPaN saudi arabia
bosNia aNd herZeGoViNa JordaN seNeGal a haNdbook for Teachers aNd
boTsWaNa kaZakhsTaN serbia
braZil keNya seychelles
bruNei darussalaM korea, rePublic of sierra leoNe sTudeNTs
bulGaria kuWaiT siNGaPore
burkiNa faso kyrGyZsTaN sloVakia
buruNdi lao PeoPle’s deMocraTic sloVeNia
caMbodia rePublic souTh africa
caMerooN laTVia sPaiN eNdorsed by:
caNada lebaNoN sri laNka
ceNTral africaN lesoTho sudaN
rePublic liberia sWaZilaNd aMericaN associaTioN of PhysicisTs iN MediciNe,
chad libya sWedeN
chile liechTeNsTeiN sWiTZerlaNd asia–oceaNia federaTioN of orGaNiZaTioNs
chiNa liThuaNia syriaN arab rePublic for Medical Physics,
coloMbia luXeMbourG TaJikisTaN
coNGo MadaGascar ThailaNd ausTralasiaN colleGe of Physical scieNTisTs
cosTa rica MalaWi The forMer yuGoslaV
cÔTe d’iVoire Malaysia rePublic of MacedoNia aNd eNGiNeers iN MediciNe,
croaTia Mali ToGo
cuba MalTa TriNidad aNd TobaGo euroPeaN federaTioN of orGaNisaTioNs
cyPrus Marshall islaNds TuNisia for Medical Physics,
cZech rePublic MauriTaNia, islaMic Turkey
deMocraTic rePublic rePublic of uGaNda federaTioN of africaN Medical Physics orGaNisaTioNs,
of The coNGo MauriTius ukraiNe
deNMark MeXico uNiTed arab eMiraTes World federaTioN of Nuclear MediciNe aNd bioloGy
doMiNica MoNaco uNiTed kiNGdoM of
doMiNicaN rePublic MoNGolia GreaT briTaiN aNd
ecuador MoNTeNeGro NorTherN irelaNd
eGyPT Morocco uNiTed rePublic
el salVador MoZaMbiQue of TaNZaNia
eriTrea MyaNMar uNiTed sTaTes of aMerica
esToNia NaMibia uruGuay
eThioPia NePal uZbekisTaN
fiJi NeTherlaNds VeNeZuela, boliVariaN
fiNlaNd NeW ZealaNd rePublic of
fraNce NicaraGua VieT NaM
GaboN NiGer yeMeN
GeorGia NiGeria ZaMbia
GerMaNy NorWay ZiMbabWe
The agency’s statute was approved on 23 october 1956 by the conference on the statute of the
iaea held at united Nations headquarters, New york; it entered into force on 29 July 1957. The
headquarters of the agency are situated in Vienna. its principal objective is “to accelerate and enlarge the iNTerNaTioNal aToMic eNerGy aGeNcy
contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world’’. VieNNa, 2014
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
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the Universal Copyright Convention as adopted in 1952 (Berne) and as revised
in 1972 (Paris). The copyright has since been extended by the World Intellectual
Property Organization (Geneva) to include electronic and virtual intellectual
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in printed or electronic form must be obtained and is usually subject to royalty
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COPYRIGHt nOtICE FOREWORD
all iaea scientific and technical publications are protected by the terms of Nuclear medicine is the use of radionuclides in medicine for diagnosis,
the universal copyright convention as adopted in 1952 (berne) and as revised staging of disease, therapy and monitoring the response of a disease process.
in 1972 (Paris). The copyright has since been extended by the World intellectual it is also a powerful translational tool in the basic sciences, such as biology, in
Property organization (Geneva) to include electronic and virtual intellectual drug discovery and in pre-clinical medicine. developments in nuclear medicine
property. Permission to use whole or parts of texts contained in iaea publications are driven by advances in this multidisciplinary science that includes physics,
in printed or electronic form must be obtained and is usually subject to royalty chemistry, computing, mathematics, pharmacology and biology.
agreements. Proposals for non-commercial reproductions and translations are This handbook comprehensively covers the physics of nuclear medicine.
welcomed and considered on a case-by-case basis. enquiries should be addressed it is intended for undergraduate and postgraduate students of medical physics.
to the iaea Publishing section at: it will also serve as a resource for interested readers from other disciplines, for
example, clinicians, radiochemists and medical technologists who would like to
Marketing and sales unit, Publishing section familiarize themselves with the basic concepts and practice of nuclear medicine
international atomic energy agency physics.
Vienna international centre The scope of the book is intentionally broad. Physics is a vital aspect of
Po box 100 nearly every area of nuclear medicine, including imaging instrumentation,
1400 Vienna, austria image processing and reconstruction, data analysis, radionuclide production,
fax: [phone] radionuclide therapy, radiopharmacy, radiation protection and biology. The
tel.: [phone] authors were drawn from a variety of regions and were selected because of their
email:
EDITORIAL NOTE
Although great care has been taken to maintain the accuracy of information contained
in this publication, neither the IAEA nor its Member States assume any responsibility for
consequences which may arise from its use.
The use of particular designations of countries or territories does not imply any
judgement by the publisher, the IAEA, as to the legal status of such countries or territories, of
their authorities and institutions or of the delimitation of their boundaries.
The mention of names of specifc companies or products (whether or not indicated as
registered) does not imply any intention to infringe proprietary rights, nor should it be construed
as an endorsement or recommendation on the part of the IAEA.
The IAEA has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or
third party Internet web sites referred to in this book and does not guarantee that any content
on such web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
PREFACE
Nuclear medicine is the study and utilization of radioactive compounds in
medicine to image and treat human disease. it relies on the ‘tracer principle’ first
espoused by Georg karl von hevesy in the early 1920s. The tracer principle is
the study of the fate of compounds in vivo using minute amounts of radioactive
tracers which do not elicit any pharmacological response by the body to the tracer.
Today, the same principle is used to study many aspects of physiology, such as
cellular metabolism, dNa (deoxyribonucleic acid) proliferation, blood flow in
organs, organ function, receptor expression and abnormal physiology, externally
using sensitive imaging devices. larger amounts of radionuclides are also applied
to treat patients with radionuclide therapy, especially in disseminated diseases
such as advanced metastatic cancer, as this form of therapy has the ability to
target abnormal cells to treat the disease anywhere in the body.
Nuclear medicine relies on function. for this reason, it is referred to as
‘functional imaging’. rather than just imaging a portion of the body believed
to have some abnormality, as is done with X ray imaging in radiology, nuclear
medicine scans often depict the whole body distribution of the radioactive
compound often acquired as a sequence of images over time showing the
temporal course of the radiotracer in the body.
There are two main types of radiation of interest for imaging in nuclear
medicine: γ ray emission from excited nuclei, and annihilation (or coincidence)
radiation (γ±) arising after positron emission from proton-rich nuclei. Gamma
photons are detected with a gamma camera as either planar (2-d) images or
tomographically in 3-d using single photon emission computed tomography.
The annihilation photons from positron emission are detected using a positron
emission tomography (PeT) camera. The most recent major development in this
field is the combination of gamma cameras or PeT cameras with high resolution
structural imaging devices, either X ray computed tomography (cT) scanners
or, increasingly, magnetic resonance imaging (Mri) scanners, in a single image
device. The combined PeT/cT (or PeT/Mri) scanner represents one of the most
sophisticated and powerful ways to visualize normal and altered physiology in
the body.
it is in this complex environment that the medical physicist, along with
nuclear medicine physicians and technologists/radiographers, plays a significant
role in the multidisciplinary team needed for medical diagnosis. The physicist is
responsible for such areas as instrumentation performance, radiation dosimetry
for treatment of patients, radiation protection of staff and accuracy of the data
analysis. The physicist draws on training in radiation and nuclear science,
in addition to scientific rigour and attention to detail in experiments and
measurements, to join forces with the other members of the multidisciplinary
team in delivering optimal health care. Patients are frequently treated on the
basis of the result of the scans they receive and these, therefore, have to be of the
highest quality.
This handbook was conceived and written by physicists, and is intended
primarily for physicists, although interested readers from medical, paramedical
and other science and engineering backgrounds could find it useful. The level
of understanding of the material covered will be different depending on the
background of the reader. readers are encouraged to visit the iaea human
health web site (http://www-naweb.iaea.org/Nahu/index.html) to discover the
wealth of resources available.
The technical editors and authors, selected for their experience and in
recognition of their contributions to the field, were drawn from around the world
and, thus, this book represents a truly international collaboration. The technical
editors travelled to the iaea headquarters in Vienna on four occasions over three
years to bring this project to fruition. We would like to thank all of the authors for
their important contribution.
d.l. bailey, J.l. humm
a. Todd-Pokropek, a. van aswegen
COntEnts
chaPTer 1. basic Physics for Nuclear MediciNe . . . . . . . . 1
1.1. iNTroducTioN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.1. fundamental physical constants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.2. Physical quantities and units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1.3. classification of radiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1.4. classification of ionizing radiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1.5. classification of indirectly ionizing photon radiation . . 5
1.1.6. characteristic X rays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.1.7. bremsstrahlung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.1.8. Gamma rays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.1.9. annihilation quanta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.1.10. radiation quantities and units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.2. basic defiNiTioNs for aToMic sTrucTure . . . . . . . 8
1.2.1. rutherford model of the atom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.2.2. bohr model of the hydrogen atom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.3. basic defiNiTioNs for Nuclear sTrucTure . . . . . 10
1.3.1. Nuclear radius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.3.2. Nuclear binding energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.3.3. Nuclear fusion and fission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.3.4. Two-particle collisions and nuclear reactions . . . . . . . . 14
1.4. radioacTiViTy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.4.1. decay of radioactive parent into a stable or unstable
daughter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.4.2. radioactive series decay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.4.3. equilibrium in parent–daughter activities . . . . . . . . . . . 21
1.4.4. Production of radionuclides (nuclear activation) . . . . . 22
1.4.5. Modes of radioactive decay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
1.4.6. alpha decay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
1.4.7. beta minus decay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
1.4.8. beta plus decay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
1.4.9. electron capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
1.4.10. Gamma decay and internal conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
1.4.11. characteristic (fluorescence) X rays and
auger electrons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
1.5. elecTroN iNTeracTioNs WiTh MaTTer . . . . . . . . . . . 29
1.5.1. electron–orbital interactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
1.5.2. electron–nucleus interactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29