Introduction to Physics in Modern Medicine

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This book is suitable as a textbook for a one-semester general audience course in physics for non-scientists, or as supplementary reading for a standard premedical introductory physics course. Precalculus-level mathematics is used throughout. Each chapter includes worked examples and a complete list of problems and questions. An instructor's manual of solutions is available from the author.

SYNOPSIS

Intended for premedical students, this textbook explains the physical principles of endoscopes, lasers for cutting, ultrasound imaging, x- rays, positron emission tomography (PET), radiation therapy, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Black and white illustrations are provided. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

FROM THE CRITICS

Doody Review Services

Reviewer: E Russell Ritenour, PhD (University of Minnesota)Description: This is an affordable paperback introduction to the applications of physics in medicine. It is different from other comparable books in the field in its inclusion of fiber optics and lasers along with the typical imaging and radiation therapy. It is also different in that the level of mathematics required is the undergraduate level: simple trigonometry and algebra.Purpose: The purpose, according to the author, is to provide an undergraduate level introduction to the applications of physics in medicine. This is a worthy goal for premed students in particular. Most technologists go through two-year certificate programs and do not complete a baccalaureate that would include a course such as this. But the premed community would be well-served.Audience: It is written for undergraduate students who are not math or physics majors. The explanations are appropriate for the level of the intended readers.Features: The book covers the introductory physics of radiation therapy and diagnostic radiology. The coverage of lasers and fiber optics is a good addition and not often found in books for medical physicists. The illustrations are of good quality and make straightforward points in a clear fashion. It was good to see a separate preface for students. I hope instructors require students to read it. I am surprised that, although digital imaging techniques are introduced as needed, there is no mention at all of picture archiving and communications systems (PACS). Two minor omissions are spiral CT, a very widely used technique that is easy to explain, evenwith a single illustration, and the concepts of mechanical index and thermal index in ultrasound. The indexes are required on ultrasound displays and are, again, very easy to explain.Assessment: A similar book is one of which I am a co-author: Hendee and Ritenour, Medical Imaging Physics, 4th edition (Wiley-Liss, 2002). However, our book is intended primarily for radiology residents and it does not cover radiation therapy or lasers and fiber optics. The math and physics are at a similar level (we don't assume that premeds went beyond what is required for premeds in math and physics), but it is necessarily more detailed than is needed for an undergraduate introduction. There is a book that is even more similar by Cameron et al., Physics of the Body, 2nd edition (Medical Physics Publishing, 2002), that covers a more eclectic range of issues, but would be of less interest to premeds, as it focuses more on techniques used in clinical medicine.

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