Product Description

This text provides easy-to-follow and comprehensive coverage of the principles of physics related to diagnostic imaging and radiotherapy. The aim of the authors is to help students to understand the basic principles covering the use of diagnostic imaging equipment so that they can operate it more easily, effectively and safely. It covers all the physics and basic mathematics required by students of diagnostic radiography and much of the basic material required by students of therapeutic radiography. It should also be useful to trainee radiologists; hospital physics technicians and orthopaedic physiotherapists.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #549365 in Books
• Published on: 2003-07-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 576 pages

About the Author
Donald Graham is Course Co-ordinator for the BSc (Hons) Diagnostic Radiography course and acting Course Co-ordinator for the PgDip/MSc in Medical Ultrasound courses at The Robert Gordon University Aberdeen. He has also acted as Radiation Protection Adviser for the University. He has experience as a teacherand an External Examiner on a number of BSc (Hons) and MSc courses in Medical Imaging in the UK. This has given him a good insight into the requirements of students and academic staff involved in courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Customer Reviews

A must have for all student radiographers.
This book by Graham is a must have for all student radiographers, as it allows for all levels of background knowledge. This book on the whole clearly demonstrates and explains the fundamental principles involved in the process of image production in diagnostic radiography. However it appears limited from the point of Theraputic radiography. Despite this the book will enable you to grasp the concepts of many areas of radiological physics.

Basic physics. No ultrasound or MRI.
The strength of this book is a broad presentation of physical properties of importance for generating images based on x-rays. The physical basis of important image modialities such as ultrasound or MR or the physics of CT scans are covered by 1-2 pages each in this book. I would therefore not recommend this book for a general overview of the physical basis of image modalities other than "classical" radiography.

The material within can be used in a better way
This book actually used to be better! In the days when the author of the material was Wilkes (more or less the same content), there used to be 'soap boxes' that gave more detailed explanations in a number of areas. These are now long gone. Likewise there was a section on exposure manipulation in some detail, now gone in recent editions.

There are unfortunately no practice problems that are really of a proper physics nature-the 'self assessment questions' pander to the 'descriptive philosophy' which just reinforces rote memorization-much like the old DCR requirements in exams -a philosophy that has never much changed despite change to degree.
This does not properly allow for a true understanding of physical principles in my view, rather a cursory type knowledge of 'stuff about radiological physics'. Like stamp collecting!

That said, the actual coverage of topics is decent (if limited to mainly diagnostic radiography) and has nice illustrations but suffers from a general lack of analysis and development of physical ideas and principles-totally unlike Wolbarsts recent text for example.
In this sense the texts title is not accurate, and unfortunately comes across as a collection of facts about radiological physics.

This book could still be rescued in future editions -include some worked quantitative examples-use computational aids such as spreadsheets (eg), give some practice problems with answers at rear, etc.