Medical Imaging course exam topics

This is a preliminary version for summer 2026. Some topics may be removed if they are not covered in the lectures. Besides the topics mentioned below, you should also know the topics explained in the laboratory sessions. I might also ask you to do simple calculation using mathematical formulas that we talked about.

1. Microscopy, its properties and applications. Optics basics - reflection, refraction, diffraction, point spread function, thin lens, numerical apperture. Microscopy construction, objective, eyepiece, magnification, resolution. 3D microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, phase contrast, dark field.
2. X-rays, spectrum, construction, generation, detection, interaction with tissue, attenuation, medical use, imaging properties, contrast agents.
3. Tomography imaging, principles and examples. Computer tomography, principles and construction. Beam hardening. Hounsfield units. Attenuation in inhomogeneous region. Radon transform, sinogram, central slice theorem, Reconstruction techniques - filtered backprojection, iterative methods. Fan-beam geometry. 3D CT imaging and reconstruction, spiral (helical) method, pitch. Clinical applications of CT.
4. Radiation dose, effective dose, radiation safety.
5. Ultrasound imaging. Ultrasound propagation, reflection, refraction, attenuation, propagation speed, scattering. Characteristic (specific) impedance, reflection. Ultrasound generation and detection. RF signal processing. Ultrasound image reconstruction, modes. Clinical applications.
6. Doppler principle, Doppler ultrasound imaging, continues and pulsed wave system, demodulation, limits on the maximum speed. Clinical applications.
7. Ultrasound contrast agents, harmonic imaging. 3D ultrasound.
8. Magnetic resonance imaging - principles and clinical use. Nuclear spin in magnetic field, Larmor frequency, magnetization, relaxation, excitation, precession, flip angle, time constants T1, T2, T2*.
9. MRI excitation sequences (FID, spin echo, gradient echo, inversion recovery), time diagrams, properties and parameters (TE,TR). Signal intensity.
10. Slice selection, frequency and phase encoding, k-space, Fourier imaging and reconstruction. k-space sampling, field of view (FOV), aliasing. Spatial resolution.
11. Fast MRI techniques (multislice MRI, fractional imaging, EPI), contrast, T1,T2,PD-weighed sequences. MRI hardware - superconductive magnet, coils. Safety.
12. Chemical shift in MRI, contrast agents, angiography, flow imaging, diffussion MRI, tagged MRI, spectroscopy.
13. Functional brain MRI, BOLD effect, hemodynamic response, fMRI experiment design and evaluation - linear model, statistical testing. Groupwise (Bonferroni) correction.
14. Radioactivity, radioactive decay, activity and half-live, effective half-life. Radionuclide production, generator, cyclotron. Nuclear imaging devices (gamma camera, SPECT, PET) - principles and clinical use. Reconstruction methods, attenuation correction. Coincidence detection in PET.
15. Magnetic particle imaging - basic principles.
16. Photoacoustic imaging - basic principles.