Module 01. Physics of Cardiovascular PET-Physics of Cardiovascular PET (Slides)

Physics of Cardiovascular PET (Slides)

Pdf Summary

This document provides an overview of the physics of cardiovascular PET imaging. PET (positron emission tomography) is a nuclear imaging technique that uses positron-emitting isotopes to visualize the physiology and function of organs in the body. <br /><br />The document covers several topics, including the origin and nature of positrons, which are particles emitted by nuclear decay, and positron annihilation, which is the process by which positrons and electrons annihilate each other to produce gamma rays. It also discusses factors that affect PET image quality, such as the range of positrons before they annihilate, imperfect annihilation angles for moving positrons, and physical/geometric limitations of the detector design.<br /><br />The document explains the different types of particle and electromagnetic radiation emitted by nuclear decay, including electrons, positrons, protons, neutrons, and gamma rays. It also discusses the concept of noise equivalent counts, which relates to the count sensitivity and noise level in PET scans.<br /><br />Additionally, the document highlights the differences between PET and SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) imaging, including the use of collimators, the number of gamma rays detected per event, spatial resolution, and attenuation artifacts.<br /><br />It concludes by mentioning the importance of correction techniques in PET image reconstruction, such as scatter and random event corrections, attenuation corrections using CT scans, and position corrections.<br /><br />Overall, this document provides a basic understanding of the physics principles underlying cardiovascular PET imaging.

Keywords

cardiovascular PET imaging

physics

nuclear imaging

positron emission tomography

positron annihilation

gamma rays

PET image quality

detector design

nuclear decay

SPECT imaging