Eric KT Addison e-Learning Platform

Electronic Instrumentation is the collection of instruments and their application for the purpose of observation measurement and control

THIS IS CLINICAL AND LABORATORY ASPECT OF THE BIOMEDICAL PHYSICS COURSE. IT COVERS AREAS SUCH AS MEDICAL PHYSICS, HEALTH PHYSICS AND APPLIED NUCLEAR PHYSICS

In radiotherapy, radiation treatment planning (RTP) is the process in which a team consisting of radiation oncologists and medical physicists, plan the appropriate external beam radiotherapy or internal brachytherapy treatment technique for a patient with cancer.

Treatment planning systems are at the heart of radiation therapy (RT) systems and the key to improved patient outcomes. Once image datasets are loaded and the tumors are identified, the systems develop a complex plan for each beam line route for how the therapy system will deliver radiation. The software also computes the expected dose distribution in the patient’s tissue, including variables such as tissue energy level penetration influences by the type of tissue the beam lines encounter (e.g., bone or lung vs. muscle). These systems also help navigate beam placement based on avoiding critical structures that are more sensitive to radiation in an effort to reduce collateral damage from the therapy. This may include automated, complex programming for multi-leaf collimator (MLC) leaf sequencing to shape the beam around critical structures during dose delivery. These treatment plans can also be modified to compensate for the reduction in tumor size over the course of treatments.

• Biomedical imaging concentrates on the capture of images for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Snapshots of in vivo physiology and physiological processes can be garnered through advanced sensors and computer technology. Biomedical imaging technologies utilize either x-rays (CT scans), sound (ultrasound), magnetism (MRI), radioactive pharmaceuticals (nuclear medicine: SPECT, PET) or light (endoscopy, OCT) to assess the current condition of an organ or tissue and can monitor a patient over time over time for diagnostic and treatment evaluation.
  
• The science and engineering behind the sensors, instrumentation and software used to obtain biomedical imaging has been evolving continuously since the x-ray was first invented in 1895. Modern x-rays using solid-state electronics require just milliseconds of exposure time, drastically reducing the x-ray dose originally needed for recording to film cassettes. The image quality has also improved, with enhanced resolution and contrast detail providing more reliable and accurate diagnoses.
  
• The limitations of what x-rays could reveal were partially addressed through the introduction of contrast medium to help visualize organs and blood vessels. First introduced as early as 1906, contrast agents, too, have evolved over the years. Today, digital x-rays enable images to more easily be shared and compared.
  
• Digital imaging gave rise to the CT scanner and allows physicians to watch real-time x-rays on a monitor—a technique known as x-ray fluoroscopy—to help guide invasive procedures such as angiograms and biopsies. No longer limited to simple anatomical imaging, current research is focusing on what can be gleaned through functional imaging. Biomedical engineers are using CT and MRI to measure the blood profusion of tissue; especially important after a heart attack or suspected heart attack. Researchers are also using functional MRI (fMRI) to measure different types of brain activity following strokes and traumatic head injuries.
  
• PET scans—which use a radioactive tracer to measure metabolic changes, blood flow and oxygen use—have also improved with technological advancements. PET scans enable researchers to compare, for example, brain activity during periods of depression based on the chemical activity in the brain.
  
• Optical molecular imaging technologies represent a new area of research that can be used to image human cells and molecules without the need for a biopsy or cell culture. Using contrast or imaging agents that attach to specific molecules, disease processes, such as cancer, can be spotted before they render their effects at the level of gross pathology.
  
• Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a newer form of CT being used in research that constructs images from light that is transmitted and scattered through the body.
  
• The power of ultrasound is being used in conjunction with microbubbles. The microbubbles can be injected directly into a specific location and then burst via ultrasound to emit localized contrast agents for imaging, chemotherapy for cancer treatment, air to help dissolve clots, and genes or drugs which can more easily penetrate cell membranes that are weakened by ultrasound.
  
• New imaging techniques bring new means for peering into the human body, helping to reduce the need for more invasive diagnostic and treatment procedures.
  

Health physics is also known as The Physics of Radiation Protection. It is the science that encompasses the recognition, evaluation, control of health hazards and permits the safe use of ionizing radiation. The Health Physics keeps an objective to protect humans from the adverse and fatal health effects associated with exposure to ionizing and non-ionizing radiation.