Basic Physics of Nuclear Cardiology

A good understanding of the physics involved in radionuclide cardiac imaging is essential for those practicing in this field. In the era of multimodality imaging, knowledge of the physical characteristics of commonly used radionuclides such as radioactive decay, half-life of isotopes as well as radiation dose metrics allows professionals to choose the right test for the right patient. An appreciation of current hardware, processing, and reconstruction of SPECT and PET images will help clinicians recognise image appearances and common artifacts in nuclear cardiology procedures. This chapter serves as a brief basic introduction to science of radionuclide imaging and the readers are encouraged to use the references citied to further enhance their knowledge in this area.