402-0345-00L  Introduction to Medical Physics

SemesterAutumn Semester 2016
LecturersA. J. Lomax
Periodicitynon-recurring course
CourseDoes not take place this semester.
Language of instructionEnglish



Courses

NumberTitleHoursLecturers
402-0345-00 VIntroduction to Medical Physics
Does not take place this semester.
2 hrsA. J. Lomax

Catalogue data

AbstractMedical physics is a fascinating and worthwhile scientific discipline, providing many professional opportunities to apply physics to the care of patients, either in the clinic or in industry. It is also an area allowing for exciting, interesting and fulfilling areas of research.
ObjectiveIt is the aim of this course to give bachelor and master level students an insight into the wide spectrum of medical applications of physics, and to provide some insight into the work of the medical physicist in clinics, industry and research.
ContentThe lecture series will begin with a short historical overview of medical physics and an overview of the lecture series (lecture 1). This will be followed by two lectures on the physics of medical imaging. Medical imaging is one of the most important areas of preventative medicine and diagnostics, and in these two lectures, we will summarise the physics aspects of all the most important medical imaging modalities (X-ray, nuclear medicine, CT, MRI, Ultrasound imaging etc.). With lectures 4 and 5, we will move onto one of the other major areas of physics applied to medicine, radiotherapy. As the name implies, this is a physics 'heavy' discipline, being dependent as it is on both accelerator and particle physics. However, what is less well known is that this is also the second most successfu
l treatment of cancer after surgery and a great success story for the application of physics to medicine. In lectures 6 and 7 will then move on to a very different area, that of bio-photonics and bio-physics. Here we will look into the applications of lasers in medicine, from therapy to their use in particle acceleration for medical applications, as well as a variety of optical techniques for studying biological tissues, cells and structures.
In the second half of the lecture series (lectures 8-13) the style changes somewhat, and we will concentrate on professional aspects of medical physics and the role of the medical physicist in various professional scenarios. As such, lectures 8-11 will cover the role of the clinical medical physicist in diagnostic radiology, MRI, nuclear medicine and radiotherapy, whilst the last two lectures will concentrate on their role in industry and research. For many of this second set of lectures, external experts in the various areas will be invited in order to give the student the best possible insight into the life of a professional medical physicist.

Performance assessment

Performance assessment information (valid until the course unit is held again)
Performance assessment as a semester course
ECTS credits4 credits
ExaminersA. J. Lomax
Typesession examination
Language of examinationEnglish
RepetitionThe performance assessment is offered every session. Repetition possible without re-enrolling for the course unit.
Mode of examinationoral 30 minutes
This information can be updated until the beginning of the semester; information on the examination timetable is binding.

Learning materials

No public learning materials available.
Only public learning materials are listed.

Groups

No information on groups available.

Restrictions

There are no additional restrictions for the registration.

Offered in

ProgrammeSectionType
Biomedical Engineering MasterTrack Core CoursesWInformation
MAS in Medical PhysicsCore CoursesWInformation