Bibliographic Paper:

Medical and Industrial Application of Nuclear and Particle Physics.

Ignacio Alfonso Gonz alez Oliva
Email: igonzal3@kent.edu
Term Paper for Nuclear and Particle Physics. Kent State University Course 46301
Professor: Gerassimo Petratos.
April 28, 2014
Abstract
There has always been a close connection between discoveries in atomic and nu-
clear phyiscs and their use in medicine and industry. In his rst publication following
the discovery of X-rays, Roentgen included an X-ray image of the skeletal structure
of his wifes hand and, shortly after the discovery of radioactivity, the biologically
damaging eects of radiation were dramatically demonstrated by Pierre Curie who
induced a radiation burn on his arm. The idea of this bibliographic work is to present
a general idea of the applications that Nuclear Physics have in our society nowdays.
1 Nuclear Medicine
1.1 Introduction
Developments in experimental techniques
and nuclear instrumentation have stimulated
parallel developments in medical procedures,
particularly in the areas pioneered by those
early scientists, of non-invasive imaging and
cancer therapy. Radioisotopes, created using
accelerators and reactors, can be attached
to compunds and pharmaceuticals and used
as tracers to obtain functional imaging of,
for expample, blood ow to the brain or the
heart, renal excretion of the kidneys and the
activity of the thyroid. Early X-ray images
were projections on to a screen or lm, but
the availability of massive computer power
and the development of computed tomogra-
phy (CT) have enabled remarkably detailed
two and three-dimensional images to be ob-
tained of any part of the body. A combina-
tion of the use of positron-emitting nucleides
and CT led to the development of an imag-
ing technique called positron emission to-
mography (PET). Another power-ful method
for producing detailed images of the body,
called magnetic resonance imaging (MRI),
detects changes in magnetization due to nu-
clear magnetic moments in an external mag-
netic eld. The eld of nuclear medicine is
vast and we can touch only briey on cer-
tain aspects of it, concentrating mainly on
the physics and nuclear physics principles be-
ing exploited.
1.2 Medical applications
The disrupting eect on cells of ionizing ra-
diation can be used to human advantage by
1
killing unwanted, e.g. cancerous cells. The
use of radiation from external radioactive
sources or accelerated particle beams in
cancer therapy has a long history.
It is interesting to examine the cases of
protons or heavy ions. Figure 1 shows the
energy deposition in the medium in terms
of the penetration distance. We see that
practically all energy is deposited in a very
localized region near the stopping point.
This comes from the 1/
2
factor in the
Bethe-Bloch formula. Also shown in the
gure is a comparison between the eect
of ion beams and of photons. One can see
the great advantage, from the medical point
of view, of heavy ions beams which attack
and destroy tumors in a very accurate and
localized manner, as opposed to -rays
which produce damage all around the point
of interest.
Figure 1: Energy loss of ions (left) and survival
rate of cells (right) as a function of the pene-
tration depth. Because of the v
2
factor in the
Bethe Bloch formula, most of the energy is de-
posited near the stopping point. The dashed
curve corresponds to the same quantities for
photons. We can see the considerable medical
advantage to use heavy ions beams.
It is also useful to sometimes inject, in-
travenously or orally, radioactive substances
into the body in a chemical form that accu-
mulates preferentially in particular organs or
cancerous tissue. The subsequent decays can
then irradiate the tumor or betray its posi-
tion by emitting externally detectable -rays.
Pure

emitters are preferred for tumor ir-

radiation since all energy is deposited within
a few millimeters of the decay. Positron emit-
ters are preferred for position measurements.
For position measurements, of speacial in-
terest are
+
-emitters which yield pairs of
511keV photons when the positrons annihi-
late. The emission of two particles allows
one to more easily constrain the origin of
the emission. The principle of this positron
emission tomography (PET) is illustrated in
Fig. 2. A commonly used positron emitter is
1
8F that is produced and decays via
p +
18
O n +
18
F
18
F
18
O +e
+
+
e
Protons of energy 15MeV are used and the
109.8 ms half life of
18
F allows one to chemi-
cally separate and prepare a uorine contain-
ing compound. For instance,
18
F-containing
glucose can be prepared and then ingested
suciently rapidly for it to accumulate in
high-metabolic tumors.
Figure 2: The principle of positron-emission to-
mography. A
+
-emitter is injected into a body
in a chemical form such that it accumulates in
the organ or tissue that one wishes to study.
Positrons from
+
-decay stop in the material
and then annihilate, e
+
+ e

. The de-
tection of the two back to back photons con-
strains the position of the decay to lie along the
line connecting the two detectors elements. Ac-
cumulation of many events allows one to recon-
struct the geometry of the decay region.
1.3 Projection Imaging: X-
radiography and the gamma
camera
Projected medical images are produced by
using either external radiation (X-rays or
rays) from a source located outside the body
or internal radiation emitted by radioactive
substances inside the body.
2
In conventional external radiography, rays
which have penetrated an object are detected
with a piece of lm or an array of detec-
tors. Internal radiation is detected by us-
ing a specially developed instrument called
gamma camera.
1.3.1 Imaging with external radiation
Figure 3: Principle of projection imaging using
an external source of radiation. A ray from the
source is shown passin through a region of ab-
sorbing material and arriving at point P on the
image plane I
1
and I
2
are the incident and out-
going intensities at the points 1 and 2 respec-
tively.
In an arrangement, shown schematically in
Fig. 3, radiation from an external point
source is directed on to one side of an
object to be examined and recorded in two
dimensions on an image plane positioned as
close as possible to the object on the other
side.
Consider a particular ray passing trough an
absorbing region to an image point on a
screen at P. We will assume, for simplicity,
that the source is a long way from the
object son that the rays passing through the
region can be considered to be parallel. The
fractional attenuation of intensity I due to a
small element dl of the path is given by
dI
I
= dl (1.3.1)
where is the attenuation coecient and is a
function of position. The coecient depends
on -ray energy and increases with the den-
sity of the absorbing material and as a power
of the atomic number Z. When integrated,
equation 1.3.1 gives
ln(
I
1
I
2
) =

2
1
dl (1.3.2)
where I
1
and I
2
are the intensities immedi-
ately before and after the traversed region.
Thus, each point on the projected image con-
tains information in the form of a line in-
tegral of the attenuation coecient through
the object.
1.3.2 Imaging with internal radiation
Whan a radioactive isotope is introduced
into the body, its eventual distribution will
depend on how it is introduced, the form in
which it is taken and how the body deals
with it. The ability to be able to image
this distribution quantitatively, therefore,
gives information not only about anatomical
structure but also about the physiological
function of the body. Moreover, because of
the high sensitivity with which radioactive
tracers can be detected, these procedures are
non-invasive and can be done at dose levels
that pose no signicant risk to the patient.
The simplest way to locate a source in-
side an object is to place a collimator in
front of a detector and scan the assembly
across the object, as illustrated in Fig. 4.
Radiation is detected when the emitting
region comes in front of the collimator.
However, this method is inecient. It
is adequate for measuring a small, local-
ized region, such as the thyroid, but not
for mapping an extended area, and spe-
cial, large-area detector arrays or gamma
cameras have been developed which will
produce a complete, two-dimensional image
simultaneously.
A simplied sketch indicating the main
components of a gamma camera is shown in
Fig. 4 (b). The detector unit consists of a
large piece of sodium iodide scintillator crys-
tal (approx 50cm diameter and 1 cm thick).
An array of photomultiplier tubes (PMTs),
optically coupled to the rear surface, detects
light emitted when a ray is converted in
3
Figure 4: Principle of -ray imaging. In
(a), a single, collimated scintillation detector is
scanned acrros a distribution of -ray sources.
In (b) is shown a schematic view of a gamma
camera consisting of a multichannel collimator
in front of a large piece of scintillator material,
which is viewed through a lightguide with an
array of photomultiplier tubes (PMTs).
the crystal. This light, originating from a
point within the scintillator, gives rise to
measurable signals from several PMTs close
to that point. The relative intensities of
these signals depend on the position of the
point of origin and, using a computer, they
can be analysed to locate the source of the
scintillation light to within a few milimeters.
The most eective radionuclides for di-
agnostic use with a gamma camera are those
which emit a single ray, no particles and
have a half-life that is long enough for the
image to be produced, but not so long that
the patient receives unnecessary radiation
exposure.
1.4 Other Medical Applications.
1.4.1 Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a
tomographic technique, which diers from
PET and X-ray CT in that it uses a prop-
erty of stable nuclei, rather than a potentially
hazardous radiation, to obtain information
about the interior of an object. Whereas X-
ray CT probes electron density and PET de-
termines the distribution of internal radioac-
tive material, MRI measures the magnetiza-
tion due to nuclear magnetic moments in the
object being scanned.
Hydrogen occurs in great abundance in
tissue and for this and other practical rea-
sons, it is the behaviour of proton magnetic
moments in an applied eld that is usually
measured in MRI.
During its development, MRI was used
mainly to reveal anatomical structure and
it is especially useful for dierentiating
between soft tissues, a task which is dicult
to do with X-ray CT. More recently, the
technique has been extended to kinetic
studies and it is now capable of showing
details of localized activity inside the brain
and other parts of the body.
In MRI, the way protons interact with
externally applied magnetic eld causes
a signal to be generated in an external
receiver, from which the spatial distribution
of hydrogen atoms in the sample can be
reconstructed. Also, by measuring the time
variation of the recorded signal, it is possible
to obtain information about variations in
the local chemical environment in which the
protons exist.
1.4.2 Radiation Therapy
By damaging DNA, radiation disables the
ability of an aected cell to reproduce and
so can be used to remove unwanted tissue.
Today, radiation therapy is a standard
procedure, which is used in conjunction
with other treatments designed to combat
cancer (surgery and chemotherapy). Of
overriding concern is the need to minimize
the negative eects of radiation exposure,
which are the damage and destruction
of healthy tissue and the possible risk of
inducing a new canser in the irradiated areas.
Dierent types of radiation are used for
therapy. Most treatments employ photon
or emitters because they are cheaper and
more readily available than alternatives
which require sources of neutrons or charged
particles.
4
2 Other Nuclear Applications
2.1 Sterilization of foodstus
This consists of exposing foodstus to ion-
izing radiations in order to destroy insects
or micro-organisms and delay the deteriora-
tion without altering the edibility. Sources
of
60
Co emitting 1MeV photons are most
commonly used. This technique generates
a loss of the germinal potential. Vegetables
are treated this way, such as potatoes, fruits,
onions, etc. The treatment is simple and pro-
duces less alterations of the nutritious prop-
erties and taste, compared to classical treat-
ments such as sterilization or chemical treat-
ments. This method has advantages: it is
ecient, nontoxic and has a low cost. It is
believed to be danger-free and it is under
considerable development.
2.2 Creation of genetically modied
plants
The irradiation by rays of genes of certain
plants (wheat, barley, rice, sugar cane, cot-
ton, ...) gives them new properties which can
be selected to give better resistance to dis-
eases, to heat, to winter conditions. It also
allows one to control the ripening. Radioac-
tive mutation techniques have been known
since the 1960s. They have been used in
Europe and in the former USSR for the cul-
ture of wheat, in the United States for the
culture of rice, in India for cotton and cane
sugar, etc. This can be viewed as a primitive
form of the more systematic genetic modi-
cation now practiced by biologists.
2.3 Sterilization of insects
The same method consists in exposing male
insects born in a lab to sucient doses of
radiation in order to sterilize them. They
are then released in large numbers in infected
zones. Female insects who mate with these
insects have no descendants and the popu-
lation of harmful insects decreases progres-
sively. This method has teh big advantage
that it does not bring chemical pollution, un-
like pesticides. It has been successfully used
in Japan against the melon y, in Mexico, in
Peru, and in Egypt against the fruit y, and
in Africa against the tsetse y.
2.4 Gammagraphy
X rays which are used in radiography of the
body or materials of low density, are not
penetrating enough to be used for dense or
thick materials. In that case, one can use
rays. The principle is the same: the rays
irradiate a sample of material and the out-
going rays are recorded on a photographic
plate This reveals possible defects coming
from manufacturing or wearing eects.
2.5 Radioactive tracers
If a radio-element is introduced into a body,
it is possible to follow its trajectory through
the body. By measuring the emitted ra-
diation, tracers allow for instance to follow
the displacements of a products in circuits of
chemical factories, the detection of leaks in
dams or in buried pipes.
2.6 Nuclear batteries
Radioactive sources such as
238
Pu,
60
Co and
90
Sr are used to construct batteries of several
hundred Watts. The heat produced by ra-
dioactivity is converted into electricity. Such
batteries are used in satellites and in dis-
tant meteorological stations. They can func-
tion for several years without any mainte-
nance. For example, the Voyager spacecraft
was powered by three
238
Pu generators. It
was launched in 1977, reached Neptune in
August 1989, and now is beyond the solar
system. Nuclear batteries are also used in
heart pacemakers.
2.7 Fire detectors
A radioactive source (
241
Am) ionizes the air
permanently. The ionization is modied if
smoke particles are present. This modica-
tion triggers a warning signal. Such detectors
are sensitive to very small amounts of smoke.
They are widely used in stores, in factories
and in oces.
5
2.8 Conservation of the artistic ob-
jects
The exposition of works or art and archaeo-
logical documents to radiations can destroy
insects, microorganisms and mold that they
contain and ensures an excellent sterility.
This technique has been used in particular
to treat the mummy of Ramses II.
The impregnation of wooden or stone
objects by a polymer under gamma irra-
diation is the principle of the Nucleart
process. It allows one to treat an to recover
pieces of buried water-logged wood.
3 Bibliography
References
[1] Cohen, Bernand L., Concepts of Nu-
clear Physics, University of Pittsburgh,
McGraw-Hill, Inc, New York, United
States, 1971.
[2] Krane, Kenneth S, Introductory Nuclear
Physics, 2nd edition, John Wiley and
Sons, Inc., Canada, 1988.
[3] Basdevant, Jean-Louis, Rich, James,
Spiro, Michel, Fundamentals in Nuclear
Physics, from Nuclear Structure to Cos-
mology, Springer Science and Business
Media, Inc., United States of America,
2005.
[4] Lilley, John S., Nuclear Physics Princi-
ples and Applications, John Wiley and
Sons, Inc, England, 2001.
6