Physics of Cross-sectional Imaging

At the end of this course, the students should be able to: 1. identify the similarities and differences between CT, MRI, U/S, and the underlying physical processes that achieve sectional imaging; and 2. describe the instrumentation and operation of equipment used for sectional imaging

Principles of CT : X ray projection, attenuation and acquisition of transmission profiles. The linear attenuation coefficient , the density of the material and the photon energy, beer’s law, Hounsfield units, Gantry and table , X-ray tube and generator, collimation and filtration, detectors, image reconstruction and processing. Basic physics of ultrasound: The nature of sound waves and characteristics of ultrasound, propagation in tissues, piezoelectricity, transducers and beam shapes. Doppler ultrasound physics. Components of A, B, M mode and real-time scanners, measurement of size, scan converters and processing. Pulsed and continuous wave Doppler measurements and Imaging, duplex scanners, 2D echo, ultrasound bone densitometry. MRI physics: Protons, Alignments, Precession, Lamour frequency, Precession, frequency, Gyromagnetic constant, Vectors, Phase and Frequency, RF Pulse, T1 Relaxation, T2 Relaxation, TE and TR, Spatial encoding, K-Space.