Modern medicine is a large consumer of physics technologies.
The series of lectures covers medical imaging starting with an overview and the history of medical imaging. Then follows four lectures covering
x-ray imaging
positron emission tomography
imaging blood flow by ultrasound
magnetic resonance
Magnetic Resonance
Magnetic Resonance in Medicine: Morphology and Way Beyond
Nuclear magnetic resonance is a phenomenon with extremely wide-varying applications ranging from solid-state physics to conformation analysis of macromolecules, to a plethora of uses in medicine. The most basic one is the determination of soft tissue morphology by MR imaging (MRI). MRI's success relies on the fact that it is truly non-invasive and that different contrast mechanisms can be invoked by simply changing the data acquisition parameters. MR contrast can be based on proton density, molecular mobility, water diffusivity, blood perfusion, water-macromolecule interaction, motion, or magnetic susceptibility gradients. Furthermore, nuclei other than protons can be interrogated, or extrinsic and intrinsic contrast media can be used to image morphology and pathology. Metabolism and function can be elucidated specifically. The basic methodology and various applications will be presented to prove that magnets can also be put to good use outside of CERN.
