1. Radiation Quantities
a. Exposure
b. Absorbed Dose
c. Equivalent Dose
d. Effective Dose
e. Activity
f. Linear Energy Transfer
g. Questions
2. Cellular response to radiation
a. Radiolysis of water and radical formation
b. Indirect and direct action
c. Time scale of radiation effects
d. Cell kinetics, mitotic death and apoptosis
e. DNA damage and chromosomal aberrations
f. Cell cycle stage and radiation sensitivity
g. Sublethal damage
h. Cell survival curves
i. Dose-rate effect
j. The oxygen effect
k. Relative biological effectiveness (OER, RBE)
l. Radioprotectors and Radiosensitizers
m. Questions
3. Radiation Induced Injury
a. Stochastic Effects
b. Deterministic Effects
c. Questions
4. Radiation induced cataracts
a. Questions
5. Radiation carcinogenesis
a. Irradiated populations from which quantitative data have been obtained for cancer incidence
b. The latent period
c. Sensitivity to radiation-induced cancer as a function of age
d. Risk estimates for radiation-induced cancer
e. Questions
6. Radiation-induced injury to the gonads
a. Spermatogenesis
b. Oogenesis
c. Radiation doses to produce sterility
d. Hereditary effects of radiation
e. Questions
7. Radiation effects on the developing embryo and fetus
a. Major effects of radiation on the embryo and fetus
b. Preimplantation
c. Organogenesis
d. Fetal period
e. Survivors of the a-bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki irradiated in utero
f. Childhood cancer and in uterus irradiation
g. Occupational exposure of a pregnant worker
h. Cutoff point for recommendation of therapeutic abortion
i. Questions
8. Whole-body radiation effects
a. Acute radiation syndrome
i. Prodromal
ii. Latent
iii. Cerebrovascular (CNS)
iv. Gastrointestinal
v. Hematopoietic (bone marrow)
b. Kinetics of depression and recovery of blood cell components
c. LD50/60
d. Treatment of radiation accident victims
e. Questions
9. Sources of radiation to the human population (NCRP 160)
a. Natural sources
b. Cosmic rays
c. Natural radioactivity in the earth’s crust
d. Internal exposure
e. Radon
f. Enhanced natural sources
g. Man-made sources
h. Average annual doses from background and diagnostic medicine procedures
i. Questions
10. Doses and risks associated with diagnostic radiology, interventional radiology/cardiology, and nuclear medicine
a. Nuclear medicine
i. Doses from typical therapeutic and diagnostic examinations
ii. Breast feeding
b. Dose and exposure in diagnostic radiology
i. X-ray procedures
ii. CT procedures
iii. Mammography
iv. Fluoroscopy
c. Radiation effects in the skin
d. Fetal Doses
i. Nuclear medicine
ii. Diagnostic
e. Questions
11. Radiation protection
a. Objectives of radiation protection
b. Committees and regulatory bodies concerned with risk estimates and radiation protection
c. Occupational exposure
d. As low as reasonably achievable (ALARA)
e. Protection of the embryo/fetus
f. Medical and Sentinel Events
g. Exposure of members of the public (non-occupational)
h. Questions
12. Biologic hazards of magnetic resonance imaging
a. Static magnetic fields
i. Projectiles
ii. Implanted metal objects
iii. Embedded metal objects
iv. Pacemakers
v. Vertigo
vi. Equipment compatibility (Safe, Conditional, Unsafe)
b. Radiofrequency fields
i. Radiofrequency waves and Specific Absorption Rate (SAR)
ii. Response of implanted metal objects
iii. Potential risk for burns (Closed loops)
c. Gradient fields
i. Nerve stimulation
ii. Loud noise
iii. Magnetophosphenes
d. Claustrophobia
e. Quenching (asphyxiation)
f. Contrast Agent Reactions
g. Regulatory limits
i. 5 gauss line
ii. Noise limits
iii. SAR
h. Questions
13. Biologic hazards of ultrasonography
a. Tissue heating, ultrasound frequency and SPTA intensity
i. Thermal Index (TI)
b. Ultrasound induced cavitation
i. Mechanical Index (MI)
c. Pulsed Doppler
d. Regulatory limits
e. Questions