Nuclear Cardiology Board Exam Preparatory Course - Physics Portion

These flashcards cover key terms and concepts from the nuclear physics section of the nuclear cardiology board exam preparatory course.

Radionuclide

A radioactive isotope used in medical imaging, particularly in nuclear cardiology.

Radioactive decay

The process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by emitting radiation.

SPECT

Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography, a nuclear imaging technique that uses gamma rays.

PET

Positron Emission Tomography, a type of imaging that detects pairs of gamma rays emitted indirectly by a positron-emitting radionuclide.

Atomic number (Z)

The number of protons in the nucleus of an atom, which determines the chemical properties of the element.

Mass number (A)

The total number of nucleons (protons and neutrons) in an atomic nucleus.

Isomeric transition

A radioactive decay process where the nucleus changes from one energy state to another without changing the number of protons or neutrons.

Valley of stability

A concept in nuclear physics representing stable combinations of neutrons and protons in atomic nuclei.

Positron annihilation

The process in which a positron and an electron collide, resulting in the emission of two gamma photons.

CZT

Cadmium Zinc Telluride, a material used in advanced SPECT cameras to directly convert gamma radiation into electrical signals.

Half-life

The time required for half of the radioactive atoms in a sample to decay.

Attenuation

The reduction in the intensity of radiation as it passes through matter.

Effective half-life

The time required for the amount of a radioactive substance in a biological system to decrease by half, taking both biological and physical decay into account.

Collimator

A device that allows only certain gamma rays to pass through, used in SPECT imaging.

Iterative reconstruction

A sophisticated algorithm used in imaging to improve the quality of images by modeling physics.

Direct action

Radiation damage that occurs when energetic particles directly break DNA molecules.

Indirect action

Radiation damage that occurs when radiation ionizes water, creating free radicals that damage DNA.

Compton scattering

A process where gamma photons interact with electrons, resulting in a change in energy and direction of the photons.

Decay constant

A constant that describes the rate of radioactive decay of a radionuclide.

Time of flight

A technique in PET that utilizes the difference in arrival times of detected gamma rays to improve image resolution.

Soft tissue

Biological tissue in the body that is important in imaging as it absorbs and scatters radiation differently than bone.

Photomultiplier tube (PMT)

A type of electronic device used to detect light from scintillator crystals in medical imaging.

Free radicals

Atoms or molecules that have unpaired electrons and can cause damage to DNA and other cellular structures.

Nuclide

An atomic species characterized by the number of protons and neutrons in its nucleus.

Chain reaction

A sequence of reactions where a reactive product or byproduct causes additional reactions to take place.

Non-bioactive agent

A substance not actively used in biological processes but can be used for imaging in nuclear medicine.

Branching ratio

The probability that a given decay process will occur compared to all other possible decay processes.