The basic science important to nuclear imaging, including the nature and production of radioactivity, internal dosimetry and radiation detection and measurement, are presented clearly and concisely. Current concepts in the fields of radiation biology and radiation protection relevant to medical imaging, and a number of helpful appendices complete this comprehensive textbook. The text is enhanced by numerous full color charts, tables, images and superb illustrations that reinforce central concepts. The book is ideal for medical imaging professionals, and teachers and students in medical physics and biomedical engineering. Radiology residents will find this text especially useful in bolstering their understanding of imaging physics and related topics prior to board exams."--Publisher description.

Section I:Basic concepts. -- Introduction to medical imaging ; -- Radiation and the atom ; -- Interaction of radiation with matter ; -- Image quality ; -- Medical imaging informatics -- Section II: Diagnostic radiology. X-ray production, tubes, and generators ; -- Radiography ; -- Breast imaging : Mammography ; -- Fluoroscopy ; -- Computed tomography ; -- X-ray dosimetry in projection imaging and computed tomography ; -- Magnetic resonance basics : Magnetic fields, nuclear magnetic characteristics, tissue contrast, image acquisition ; -- Magnetic resonance imaging : Advanced image acquisition methods, artifacts, spectroscopy, quality control, siting, bioeffects, and safety ; -- Ultrasound -- Section III: Nuclear medicine. -- Radioactivity and nuclear transformation ; -- Radionuclide production, radiopharmaceuticals, and internal dosimetry ; -- Radiation detection and measurement ; -- Nuclear imaging -- the gamma camera ; -- Nuclear tomographic imaging-single photon and positron emission tomography (SPECT and PET) -- Section IV: Radiation biology and protection. -- Radiation biology ; -- Radiation protection -- Section V: Appendices -- Appendix A: Fundamental principles of physics -- Appendix B: SI and derived units, physical constants, prefixes, definitions and conversion factors, geometry and Roman and Greek symbols used in medical physics -- Appendix C: Radiologic data for elements 1-100 -- Appendix D: Mass attenuation -- Appendix E: Effective doses, organ doses, and fetal doses from medical imaging procedures -- Appendix F: Radiopharmaceutical characteristics and dosimetry -- Appendix G: Convolution and fourier transforms -- Appendix H: Radiation dose : Perspectives and comparisons -- Appendix I: Radionuclide therapy home care guidelines.