Descriptions of Medical Physics courses

Required and major elective courses for graduate students in Medical Physics

Course Number Course Description

MPHY
34200 Practicum in the Physics of Medical Imaging I. This laboratory course is designed to familiarize the medical physics student with typical diagnostic x-ray generators, various examinations in diagnostic Medical Physics, and the measurement of basic physical parameters of the performance of equipment in diagnostic Medical Physics. (Jiang and Staff)

MPHY 34300 Practicum in the Physics of Medical Imaging II. This laboratory course is designed to acquaint students with the operation of the nuclear medicine clinic. The students are expected to gain practical experience in the safe handling of radiopharmaceuticals, the operation and quality assurance of different imaging devices, various nuclear medicine diagnostic procedures, and data analysis using a clinical computer system. (O?Brien-Penney, Pan, Pelizzari)

MPHY 34400 Practicum in the Physics of Radiation Therapy. This laboratory course provides the student with practical experience in radiation calibration of therapy machines, radiation surveys, treatment planning for radiation therapy patients, dosimetry, and computer application in clinical radiation physics. (Reft and Staff)

MPHY 34900 Mathematics for Medical Physics. This course focuses on the mathematics that will be used throughout the training of the student in the Graduate Programs in Medical Physics. Lectures are given on linear algebra, Fourier analysis, Laplace transforms, sampling theory, sampling statistics, functions of random variables, hypothesis testing, signal detection theory and ROC analysis. (Giger, Metz, Pan)

MPHY 35000 Interactions of Ionizing Radiation with Matter. Study of the interaction of electromagnetic and particulate radiation with matter; special emphasis on energy absorption, detection, control and production, and on their relation to medical applications. (Armato, Al-Hallaq)

MPHY 35100 Physics of Radiation Therapy. Topics include introduction to ionizing radiation, quantities describing interaction of ionizing radiation with matter, attenuation of beams, charged particle and radiation equilibrium, absorbed dose, radioactive decay, gamma and x-ray interactions in matter, charged particle interactions, x-ray production, Bragg-Gray cavity theory and ionization chambers. (Yenice and Staff)

MPHY 35400 Health Physics. Students gain practical experience in assuring radiation safety in a clinical department of diagnostic Medical Physics. Topics include: calibration of radiation measurement systems, measurements of radiation quality under various geometrical conditions; radiation safety surveys in diagnostic Medical Physics; and monitoring occupational exposure of radiological personnel. (Aydogan and Staff)

MPHY 35600 Anatomical Structure of the Body. Study of the structure of the human body as seen from diagnostic x-ray films and other available material. Primarily for medical physics students. (Giger, Holmes, Caliguiri)

MPHY 35800 Biomedical Applications of Magnetic Resonance. This course provides students with an introductory understanding of the physics of magnetic resonance, magnetic resonance methodology, and the applications of these methods to a variety of biomedical problems. Topics include determination of protein structure by MR, metabolic imaging, anatomic imaging, solid state imaging, electron spin resonance, measurement of blood flow and perfusion, and effects of contrast agents. (Karczmar and Staff)

MPHY 35900 Cancer and Radiation Biology. This course provides students with an overview of the biology of cancer and of the current methods used to diagnose and treat the disease. Lectures from faculty throughout the Biological Sciences Division will include presentations on cancer incidence and mortality, cancer prevention, a molecular biology perspective, the role of genetic markers, the imaging of pathology, methods of treatment (radiation, chemotherapy) and prognosis, and the role of medical ethics and patient care. The course will be primarily for medical physics students. (Grdina and Staff)

MPHY 38600 Physics of Medical Imaging I. This is an introductory course to the basic elements of x-ray imaging and magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy. Topics covered on x-ray imaging include x-ray production, image formation, analog and digital detectors, physical measures of image quality, fluoroscopy, and computer aided diagnosis. Topics covered on magnetic resonance imaging include nuclear magnetic resonance, relaxation times, pulse sequences and spectroscopy. (Nishikawa and Staff)

MPHY 38700 Physics of Medical Imaging II. The course covers problems involving physics and mathematics in nuclear medicine. Specific topics include: isotope production, interaction of radiation with matter, counting statistics, collimator design, imaging theory, instrumentation, image processing, internal dosimetry, computers in nuclear medicine, emission computer tomography, dynamic and functional imaging, and recent advances in instrumentation. (Kao and Staff)

MPHY 39100 Physics of Mammography. This is an advanced course designed to give students an in-depth understanding of the application of basic medical physics concepts and principles to the problem of breast cancer detection using mammography. Topics include radiographic properties of breast tissue; image quality requirements for breast imaging; relationship between x-ray equipment and image quality; dosimetry; risk/benefit analysis as applied to screening; digital mammography. (Nishikawa and Staff)

MPHY 39300 Clinical Physics in Positron Emission Tomography (PET). This course is designed to provide in-depth experience in the clinical physics of PET. It focuses on PET technology and PET applications. Students learn PET instrumentation and procedures for operation and calibration of PET systems, computer and networking facilities, quality assurance programs, major PET protocols, and data and image analysis methods. (O'Brien-Penney and Staff)

MPHY 39500 Clinical SPECT. This course provides students with experience with the use of single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in the clinical setting. The protocols used for all SPECT exams will be reviewed. Trade-offs between different modes of data acquisition and processing will be presented. Quality control procedures and interpreting their results will be reviewed. Procedures needed to obtain quantitative SPECT results will be presented. Cardiac gated SPECT will be explained, as well as the special displays (e.g. polar displays) used in cardiac SPECT interpretation. The use of attenuation correction will be presented. (O'Brien-Penney and Staff)

MPHY 39600 Image Processing and Computer Vision. Introduction to the fundamental concepts and techniques widely used for processing and understanding digital images. The course will consist of a series of lectures and several laboratories to provide hand-on experience in various image processing techniques. Topics include: digital image properties, data structures for image analysis, image filtering (smoothing, edge detection, noise reduction), segmentation (region growing, mathematical morphology), feature extraction (histogram analysis, shape description), texture analysis (co-occurrence matrices, texture energy measures, fractals), pattern recognition (statistical pattern recognition, neural networks), and linear transforms (Fourier, discrete cosine, and wavelet transforms). (Armato and Suzuki)

MPHY 40100 Special Reading on Image-Guided Radiation Therapy. This course students will read and discuss recent papers concerning developments in the rapidly expanding field of image guidance as applied to radiation therapy. Phases of image guidance include prospective image-based patient setup, image-based adaptation of therapy delivery to account for patient set-up and motion uncertainties, real-time intratreatment imaging and post-treatment follow-up. (Pelizzari and Staff)

MPHY 41700 Research in Medical Physics. Possible research topics can include those from diagnostic imaging to radiation therapy treatment methods, as well as cross-disciplinary projects. (Giger and Staff)

MPHY 42000 Research in the Physics of Nuclear Medicine. Possible research topics cover the fundamental physical aspects of nuclear medicine, including radiation detection and spectrum analysis; image formation, processing, and display; criteria for image evaluation; and quantitative in vivo assay using methods of gamma ray and positron tomography, stimulated x-ray fluorescence, and activation analysis. (Chen, Pan, Kao, La Riviere)

MPHY 42100 Research in the Physics of Diagnostic Radiology. Possible research topics include the development of methods to improve diagnostic accuracy and/or to reduce patient radiation exposure; analysis and evaluation of imaging system components; and joint physical/clinical studies of new techniques in diagnostic Medical Physics. (Giger and Staff)

MPHY 42400 Research in Image-Guided Radiation Therapy. Possible research topics include fundamental aspects of image guidance in radiation therapy planning and delivery, use of respiratory correlated CT and dynamic patient modeling for treatment planning. PRe