Department of Physics, Unit Catalogue 2008/09 |
PH30035 Physics and engineering applied to medicine |
| Credits: 6 |
| Level: Honours |
| Semester: 1 |
| Assessment: EX 100% |
| Requisites: |
| Before taking this unit you must take PH10007 and take PH10008 |
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Students must have A-level Physics in order to undertake this unit. Aims: The aim of this unit is to introduce the application of physics and engineering to medicine, for both diagnosis and therapy. Learning Outcomes: After taking this unit the student should be able to: * outline the diagnostic and therapeutic uses of x rays, gamma rays, radio frequency radiation, magnetic fields, electrons, neutrons, radionuclides and ultrasonic waves; * describe the physical principles underlying specific areas of medical imaging and ionising radiation therapy; * relate the quality of medical images to the physical principles underlying the equipment associated with their production, use, measurement and evaluation; * perform basic calculations on medical applications of ultrasound, ionising radiations and magnetic resonance imaging. * describe the principles of measurement of physiological actions, and associated means of signal processing and interpretation. Skills: Numeracy T/F A, Problem Solving T/F A. Content: Introductory (1 hour): Introduction to applications of physics and engineering to medicine. Structure of course, lecturers, style of lectures. Physical properties of body tissues. Diagnosis and therapy Safety aspects. Language and terminology. Example examination paper. Expectations. Careers in Medical Physics and Engineering. Hospital environment and patient focus. Ionising radiation and MRI (6 hours): Generation and character of photon beams, absorption and scattering processes in tissue, including the effects of incident energy and tissue inhomogeneity. Generation and character of ionising particles, electrons, and heavier particles. Radiodiagnostic techniques and equipment, plain radiography, fluoroscopy, computed tomography. Radiotherapeutic techniques, teletherapy, brachytherapy principles of dosimetry. Radiation protection. Production of cross-sectional images of tissue properties, and function, using nuclear magnetic resonance imaging. Nuclear medicine (5 hours): Radioactivity, nuclear transformations, radionuclide production and radiopharmaceuticals, radiation detection and measurement. Equipment, clinical practice, imaging and non-imaging, therapy. Radionuclide dosimetry Ultrasonics (5 hours): Generation and description of ultrasonic fields; Near field and far field, focused fields and pulsed fields. Attenuation, absorption and scatter of tissue. Pulse-echo and Doppler methods. Imaging system design. Arrays. Clinical applications. Physiological measurement (5 hours). Bioelectric potentials: cardiac, neurological, muscular sources: transducers, signal processing, interpretation: flow and pressure measurement, safety. Seminars in special topics including radiofrequency ablation and medical uses of lasers. |