Table 11-2 Quantities and Units Used in Nuclear Medicine

Système International Conventional

Quantity (SI) Unit Unit Equivalence Meaning

Activity becquerel (Bq) curie (Ci) 1 Bq = 2.7 × 10 −11 Ci Number of

disintegrations of
radioactive material
per second
Absorbed gray (Gy) rad 1 Gy = 100 rad Energy absorbed from
dose ionizing radiation per unit mass
of absorber
Exposure by coulombs per kilogram roentgen (R) 1 C/kg = 3.9 × 10 3 R Amount of charge
(C/kg) liberated ionizing
radiation per unit mass
of air
Dose sievert (Sv) rem 1 Sv = 100 rem Absorbed dose times
equivalent the quality factor
(Dose × QF)

The quantities and units used to measure

radiation in nuclear medicine are given in
Table 11-2.
UN IT S OF ENERGY AN D FORCE
One erg (from the Greek word for work) is the
amount of energy imparted to a body by a force
of 1 dyne acting over a distance of 1 cm. The dyne
(also from the Greek and with the same root as
“dynamo”) is simply the amount of force required
to give a mass of 1 g an acceleration of 1 cm/s 2 .
One erg is only a small amount of energy in
everyday terms, and, as you might reasonably
conclude, the dyne is a similarly small amount of
force. Both are units of the
centimeter-gram-second (CGS) system.
The system of units whose magnitude is more
familiar is the meter-kilogram-second (MKS)
system. The MKS units of energy and force are
the joule (=10 7 ergs) and the newton (= 10 5
dynes). The units of the SI system are the same as
the MKS system.
In terms of more familiar energy units, 1 J
equals 0.24 small calories (as opposed to the kcal
used to measure food consumption). One erg is
only one ten-millionth of a joule.
The Effects of Radiation on Living
Organisms
The effects of radiation on living organisms can
be described at the level of the cell, a tissue, an
entire organism, or a whole population.
Cellular Effects
Individual Cells
Cellular Structure
Cells are the building blocks for living matter and
are composed of a nucleus and cytoplasm. The
nucleus contains the genetically important chro-
mosomes that are composed of deoxyribonucleic
acid (DNA), which is a large molecule consist-
ing of thousands of small subunits (bases) coiled
into a double helix. The genetic code for the cell
and the entire organism is held in the sequence
of pairs of bases along the two strands of the
double helix. During the process of cell divi-
sion, called mitosis, the DNA reproduces itself so
that a complete set of chromosomes is deposited
within each cell. In this way the genetic code is
propagated. Since DNA plays such a pivotal role
Figure 11-1 The structure of chromosomes and DNA.
in cellular multiplication and function, radiation
damage to DNA has a profound impact on living
tissue. Chromosomes are particularly radiosen-
sitive (vulnerable to radiation damage) during
mitosis.
DNA contains two chains of alternating sugar
molecules and phosphate groups. The sugars of
the chains are linked by pairs of nucleotides—the
“bases” thymine, cytosine, adenine, or guanine.
The term base refers to the basic, as opposed to
acidic, nature of the isolated compounds. These
four bases are commonly referred to by their
initial letters—T, C, A, and G. The chains and
nucleotides are arranged in two long, coiled, and
intertwined strands, which are tightly packed to
form a chromatid (Fig. 11-1). Two identical
chromatids are “attached” to a centromere and
form a chromosome. As shown at the bottom
of Figure 11-1, the bases form pairs across the
strands as follows: adenine pairs with thymine
and guanine with cytosine. The genetic code for
the cell and, indeed, for the entire organism is
held in the sequence of the nucleotides with their
base pairs.