Radio-Nuclide Imaging /Thermography/MRI

At the end of this course,the students should be able to: 1. determine the type of nuclide, radio pharmaceuticals and quality tests for various radio- nuclide imaging procedures and calculate administered dose; 2. describe the safety precautions, standard procedures and disposal of radioactive wastes are the expected outcome; 3. recognise the need for special consideration in siting the MRI Unit; 4. describe the principles and mechanisms of its operations and be familiar with technologies associated with MRI; 5. describe the protocols that obtain best images for various pathologies and body parts; 6. apply safety precautions involved in MRI procedures; and 7. describe methods of artefact reduction.

Basic principles, Decay schemes of Radionuclide production, cyclotron design and performance, radiopharmaceuticals, impurity levels. Equipment for nuclear medicine generators, procedures, contamination monitoring. Radioisotope image, gamma camera electronics, uniformity correction, dead time performance factors – collimators, shielding requirements, internal dosimetry. Disposal of radioactive waste. Planar imaging, PET, SPECT-PET-CT- principles of operation, procedures, dosimeter and image analysis. Designs of MR scanners: Open, closed systems. Superconductors, Permanent magnets, Resistive magnets. Cooling mechanisms, Nitrogen, Helium and many others. Oxygen levels. Oxygen gauges and meters, Oxygen displacement by helium. Loss of superconductivity. Quench, Shielding systems, The Faraday’s cage. Strength of Magnets. Magnet homogeneity. Shimming, Characteristics of the main magnet Strength of the field produced. Tesla (T). Gauss. Magnets in clinical use and in research. Parameters, image quality and trades off: SNR, Slice Thickness FOV, Matrix, NEX, Pixels and voxels. Slice thickness, slice Gap. Noise, Partial volumes. FOV, Matrix, Number of excitations, Acquisition time. TR, TE, Receive bandwidth. Spatial Encoding and Image Formation: The homogenous magnetic field, Behaviour of protons in the magnetic field, Protons and Lamour frequency, Slice direction, Phase direction and Frequency direction, Slice encoding gradient, Slice select gradient, Use of varying bandwidth, Modifying the steepness of the gradient, Gradient fields, Frequency encoding, Phase encoding, K – Space filling, Fourier transformation. Techniques --- Central Nervous System: Coil selection, Immobilisation devises, Ear defenders, Aids for claustrophobic patients—mirror glasses, eye shields, Artefact considerations, Use of saturation bands, Flow compensation, Indications for MRI in the brain and spines, Parameters and, image quality considerations, Patient positioning, Important landmarks and reference points, Protocol selection, Essential and complementary sequences, Image weighting for particular, indications, Thick and thin slices, High resolution slices, Contrast enhancement, Introduction to diffusion weighted imaging.