B.Tech.

Third Year
(6th Semester)

DEPARTMENT OF BME

BM0302
Nuclear Medicine
 Historical Awareness
• 1895 - Wilhem Conrad Roentgen discovered X-rays
and in 1901 he received the first Nobel Prize for
physics.
• 1903 - Marie Curie and Pierre Curie, along with
Henri Becquerel were awarded the Nobel Prize in
physics for their contributions to understanding
radioactivity, including the properties of uranium.
• 1942 - Enrico Fermi and others started the first
sustained nuclear chain reaction in a laboratory
beneath the University of Chicago football stadium.
• 1945 – Nuclear bombs dropped on Japan.

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 Radium

1898 – Discovered by Marie Curie

1900-1930 – Radium Therapy - used to treat
arthritis, stomach ailments and cancer
Accepted by American Medical Association
WWI – Use of radium on watch dials
1920s – U.S. Radium corporation employed
young women to paint watch dials

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 Radiation

Nonionizing

Visible, infrared, microwaves, radio & TV, power transmission

Ionizing

Radiation capable for producing ions when interacting with

matter – x-rays, alpha, beta, gamma, cosmic rays

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 Electromagnetic Spectrum

Ionizing Radiation Visible Nonionizing Radiation

Infrared
Ultraviolet Near Far Radar
X Rays
FM
Gamma Rays TV
Short wave
Cosmic Rays Broadcast Power
Transmission

-14 -12 -10 -8 -6 -4 -2 2 4 6 8

10 10 10 10 10 10 10 1 10 10 10 10
Wavelength in Meters

10 8 6 4 2 -2 -4 -6 -8 -10 -12 -14

10 10 10 10 10 1 10 10 10 10 10 10 10

High Energy - Electron Volts Low

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Ionizing Radiation

Paper Wood Concrete Energy

Alpha
Low
Beta
Medium

Gamma
High

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 Alpha Particles

• Two neutrons and two protons

• Charge of +2
• Emitted from nucleus of radioactive atoms
• Transfer energy in very short distances (10
cm in air)
• Shielded by paper or layer of skin
• Primary hazard from internal exposure
• Alpha emitters can accumulate in tissue
(bone, kidney, liver, lung, spleen) causing
local damage
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Beta Particles

• Small electrically charged particles

similar to electrons
• Charge of -1
• Ejected from nuclei of radioactive atoms
• Emitted with various kinetic energies
• Shielded by wood, body penetration 0.2
to 1.3 cm depending on energy
• Can cause skin burns or be an internal
hazard of ingested

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Gamma-rays

• Electromagnetic photons or radiation

(identical to x-rays except for source)
• Emitted from nucleus of radioactive
atoms – spontaneous emission
• Emitted with kinetic energy related to
radioactive source
• Highly penetrating – extensive shielding
required
• Serious external radiation hazard

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 X-rays
• Overlap with gamma-rays
• Electromagnetic photons or radiation
• Produced from orbiting electrons or free
electrons – usually machine produced
• Produced when electrons strike a target
material inside and x-ray tube
• Emitted with various energies & wavelengths
• Highly penetrating – extensive shielding
required
• External radiation hazard
• Discovered in 1895 by Roentgen
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Bombardment reactions
• Alpha bombardment
• A
Z X + 4
2
A+4
Z+2 Y
• Beta bombardment
• A
Z X + 0
-1
A
Z-1 Y
• Gamma bombardment 
• A
Z X + 0
0
Am
Z X 
• Proton bombardment 
• A
Z X + 1
1p
A+1
Z+1 Y
• Neutron bombardment 
• A
Z X +
1
0n
A+1
Z X
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 Nuclei and Nuclear Reactions
• Radioactive decay – emission of particles and/or electromagnetic
radiation by unstable nuclei

• Radioactivity - Spontaneous emission of particles or electromagnetic

radiation

• Nuclear transmutation, results from the bombardment of nuclei by

neutrons, protons, or other nuclei.

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Radioactive decay and nuclear transmutation are
nuclear reactions, which differ significantly from
ordinary chemical reactions.

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 Nuclear Stability

• Nuclear stability determined by a balance between

• Coulombic repulsions

• Short range nuclear attractions (very strong)

• If replusions > attractions, the nucleus is unstable

• If attractions > replusions, the nucleus is stable

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• Patterns of nuclear stability

• Nuclei containing a magic number of protons

and/or neutrons are stable.
• The numbers 2, 8, 20, 50, 82, and 126 are called
magic numbers.
• There are many more stable nuclei with even
numbers of both protons and neutrons than with
odd numbers of these particles.
• All isotopes of the elements with atomic numbers
higher than 83 are radioactive.
• All isotopes of technetium (Tc, Z = 43) and
promethium (Pm, Z = 61) are radioactive.

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• Nuclear Binding Energy

• Quantitative measure of nuclear stability

• The energy required to break up a nucleus into its

component protons and neutrons.

• Represents the conversion of mass to energy that

occurs during an exothermic nuclear reaction.

• The difference between the mass of an atom and

the sum of the masses of its protons, neutrons and
electrons is called the mass defect.

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• According to Einstein’s mass-energy equivalence relationship (E = mc2, where E
is energy, m is mass, and c is the velocity of light), the energy released is

• where DE and Dm are defined as follows:

2
E  (m)c

E  energy of products - energy of reactants

m  mass of products - mass of reactants

E  nuclear binding energy

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Nuclear Fission

• Nuclear fission is the process in which a

heavy nucleus (mass number > 200) divides
to form smaller nuclei of intermediate mass
and one or more neutrons.

• Because the heavy nucleus is less stable than

its products, this process releases a large
amount of energy.

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Nuclear Fusion

• Nuclear fusion - the combining of small nuclei into

larger one
• Exempt from waste disposal issues of fission
• Solar fusion

• Thermonuclear reactions – take place at very high

temperatures

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• Radioactivity is a natural process
• Radioactivity is due to the instability of atoms,
resulting in the spontaneous emission of subatomic
particles and/or energy
• Radioactivity has unique features including isotopes
and radioactive decay
• Human health issues of radioactivity are based on the
ability of emissions to affect a cell’s biochemistry and
metabolism
• Radioactivity has been “harnessed” to provide a host
of applications to enhance the quality of life
• Radioactivity also has its liabilities associated with
waste disposal and misuse
 Radioactive Decay

• Rate of decay to a stable state (no more

spontaneous decay) is specific for each isotope

• Rate has unique terminology called half-life

• Time for ½ (50%) of the nuclei to decay to the

stable state is abbreviated t1/2
Radioactive Decay
Measurement of Radiation

• Number of nuclear disintegrations per unit of

time called a curi (Ci); 3.70 x 1010 nuclear
disintegrations second-1
• Radiation at the site of absorption (living
tissues)
• Radiological dose in units called rem
• Natural dose = 0.001 rem (1 millirem)/day
• Lethal dose = 500 rem
Compton scattering, discovered by Arthur Holly Compton, is the scattering of a
photon by a charged particle, usually an electron. It results in a decrease in energy
(increase in wavelength) of the photon (which may be an X-ray or gamma
ray photon), called the Compton effect.

The Compton effect is the name given by physicists to the collision between
a photon and an electron. The photon bounces off a target electron and loses
energy. These collisions referred as elastic compete with the photoelectric effect
when gamma pass through matter. It contributes to their attenuation.

The effect was discovered in 1922 by the American physicist Arthur H. Compton.
Compton received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1927. He demonstrated the
particle nature of electromagnetic radiation. It was a sensational discovery at the
time.
Collision between a photon and an atomic electron
The Compton effect occurs for most of the atomic electrons.
A gamma photon plays the role of a projectile that collides with an electron
in an atom that serves as a target. Gamma was represented as a punctual
particle because of its very short wavelength at the atomic scale. As the vast
majority of electrons posses a smaller energy than the one of gamma,
physicists are accustomed to neglect it and to consider the electron as a
target at rest. In the collision, the electron is put in motion at a certain angle,
while the gamma scattered with another angle loses its energy.
 Half Life and Rate of
Decay
• Radioactivity is a random event; we do not know
which atom will decay at what time, but can use
probability and statistics to tell us how many of
the atoms will decay in a certain time period.
• The equation used to determine how much will
decay in that time period is:

N  Nt
 Half Life and Rate of
Number of
Decay
Number of radioactive
Decays that Nuclei present
occur in
the time
period
N  Nt
Greek Letter “Lambda” – decay constant Time period
The decay constant is different for (in
different isotopes; the greater the decay seconds)
constant, the more radioactive the
isotope is.
 Radioactive Decay Law
• The previous equation can be rearranged to find the
number of atoms left after a specified amount of time
to decay.
N  N oe t

• The number of decays per second is called the activity of

the sample.
• To signify how fast an isotope decays, the term “half
life” is used. The half life of an isotope is the time it
takes half of the original sample to decay
 Half Life
• The half lives of known radioactive isotopes vary from
about 10-22 seconds to 1028 seconds (about 1021 years)
•Most tables and charts show half life as T 1/2

•The half life and decay constant have an inverse

relationship to one another; the longer the half life, the
lower the decay constant (the more slowly it decays).
The precise relationship is

T1 = 
2
0.693
4. PAIR
PRODUCTION

Positron annihilation.
What happens to the
Positron ?
Slowly moving Positron
combines with a free electron
to produce two photons of
radiation.
2 mass units are converted,
giving a total energy of 1.022
MeV.
To conserve momentum, two
photons each with 0.511 MeV
energy are ejected in opposite
direction.
4. PAIR
PRODUCTION

No importance in diagnostic radiology.

What happens in Pair production ?

A high energy photon interacts with the nucleus of an atom.
The photon disappears & its energy is converted into matter in the form
of two particles
 An electron
 A positron (particle with same mass as electron, but with +ve charge.)

Mass of one electron is 0.51 MeV. 2 electron masses are produced.

So the interaction cannot take place with photon energy less than 1.02
MeV.