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Robert N. Beck

Memorial Presentation

A. Bertrand (Randy) Brill

MD, PhD

Vanderbilt University

With extensive contributions from Nick Yasillo, Chin-Tu Chen, Don Gunter, John N Aarsvold, & Adriadne Beck

March 26, 1928

—

August 6, 2008

Robert N. Beck

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1948 - 2008

Key Professional Appointments at UC ---------------------------------------------------

1948- Student 1951-1957 Electronics Technician [at UC, including at ACRH]

1954 AB [liberal arts] 1955 BS [mathematics, physics]

1957-1967 Chief Scientist, ACRH 1964-1967 Research Associate (Assistant Professor), Dept. of Medicine 1967-1976 Associate Professor, Dept. of Radiology and FMI 1976-1998 Professor, Dept. of Radiology and FMI 1976-1994 Director, Section of Radiological Sciences, Dept. of Radiology 1977-1994 Director, FMI 1986-1998 Director, UC-ANL CIS [Director Emeritus 1998-2008] 1998-2008 Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Radiology

Pioneer Developer of the Mathematical Theory

of Radionuclide Imaging

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Formalism – for Radioisotope Scanning (1961- …)

• A theoretical evaluation of brain scanning systems. Beck. J Nucl Med, 1961 • A theory of radioisotope scanning systems. Beck. In Medical Radioisotope Scanning, Vol 1, 1964

•  Techniques which aid in quantitative interpretation of scan data. Charleston, Beck, Eidelberg, & Shuh. In Medical Radioisotope Scanning, Vol 1, 1964

•  Radioisotope scanning systems. Beck. ISA Trans, 1966 •  Recent advances in scanning. Harper, Gottschalk, & Beck. In Progress in Atomic Medicine, Vol 2, 1968 • Effects of scattered radiation on scintillation detector response. Beck, Schuh, Cohen, & Lembares. In Medical Radioisotope Scintigraphy, Vol 1, 1969

•  Recent advances in scanning. Harper, Gottschalk, & Beck. Isotopes and Radiat Tech, 1969 •  Evaluation of scanning procedures in terms of information theory. Harper, Beck, & Cohen. In Medical Radioisotope

Scintigraphy, Vol 1, 1969 •  Optical processing of radionuclide images. Beck, Harper, Charleston, & Yasillo. Biomed Sci Instru, 1969 •  Comparison of Ga-68, Tc-99m, & In-113 used with the gamma camera and the 3-in & 5-in scanners for visualization of lesions

in the brain, kidney, liver, and lung. Lathrop, Cohen, Beck, & Harper. In Radioisotope Pharmakokinetik und Klinischer Biochemie (Keiderling, Hoffmann, & Ladner, Eds), 1970

• Advances in fundamental aspects of imaging systems and techniques. Beck, Zimmer, Charleston, Harper, & Hoffer. In Medical Radioisotope Scintigraphy 1972, Vol 1, 1973

•  Current status of diagnostic counting and imaging techniques. Beck. IEEE Trans Nucl Sci, 1974 •  A high-efficiency multi-detector system for tumor scanning. Kirby, Phelps, Armantrout, Sawyer, & Beck. IEEE Trans Nucl Sci,

1976 •  Some essential characteristics of radioactive materials. Beck. In Diagnostic Nuclear Medicine (Gottschalk & Potchen, Eds),

1976 •  The scintillation detector. Oppenheim & Beck. In Diagnostic Nuclear Medicne (Gottschalk & Potchen, Eds), 1976 •  3D imaging utilizing energy discrimination. Gunter, Hoffmann, & Beck. IEEE Trans Nucl Sci, 1990

Fundamentals of Radioisotope Scanning (1968)

In Fundamental Problems in Scanning, 1968 (four contributions):

• The scanning system as a whole: General considerations. Beck.

• Collimation of gamma rays. Beck.

• A note on crystal efficiency. Beck.

• Criteria for evaluating radioisotope imaging systems. Beck & Harper.

based on 1965 symposium “Fundamental Problems in Radioisotope Scanning”

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Formalism – Fourier Transforms &

Transfer Functions (1969 - …)

• Modulation transfer function for radioisotope imaging systems. Beck. In Handbook of Radioactive Nuclides (Wang, Ed), 1969

• Nomenclature for Fourier transforms of spread functions of imaging systems used in nuclear medicine. Beck. J Nucl Med, 1972

• Quantitative effects of stationary linear image processing on noise and resolution of structures in radionuclide images. Metz & Beck. J Nucl Med, 1974

• Theoretical prediction of the geometric transfer function for focused collimators. Metz, Tsui, & Beck. J Nucl Med, 1974

• Effects of scatter subtraction on image contrast. Atkins & Beck. J Nucl Med, 1975 • Dependence of optimum baseline setting on scatter fraction and detector response function.

Atkins, Hoffer, Palmer, & Beck. In Medical Radionuclide Imaging, Vol 1, 1977 • The geometric transfer function component for scintillation camera collimators with straight holes. Metz, Atlkins, & Beck. Phys Med Biol, 1980

• Transfer function analysis of the total image forming process in nuclear medicine. Tsui, Beck, Metz, & Doi. J Appl Photo Eng, 1980

• Analysis of recorded image noise in nuclear medicine. Tsui, Beck, Doi, & Metz. Phys Med Biol, 1981

• Optimum detector spatial resolution for discriminating between tumor uptake distributions in scintigraphy. Tsui, Metz, & Beck. Phys Med Biol, 1983

Clinical Introduction of Tc-99m (1964)

• Optimization of a scanning method using Tc-99m. Harper, Beck, Charleston, & Lathrop. Nucleonics, 1964

•  Tc-99m as a clinical tracer. Harper, Lathrop, Andros, McCardle, Goodman, Beck, & Covell. In Radioaktive Isotope in Klinik und Forschung, Band VI, 1965

•  Rapid brain scanning with Tc-99m. Harper, Fink, Charleston, Beck, Lathrop, & Evans. Acta Radiologica, 1966 •  Imaging Tc-99m compounds with the gamma scintillation camera, and the use of this system to avoid the distortion of

respiratory motion in radioisotope scintiphotography. Gottschalk, Jiminez, Lu, Beck, & Harper. In Radioaktive Isotope in Klinik und Forschung, Band VII, 1966

•  Rapid brain scanning with Tc-99m. Harper, Fink, Charleston, Beck, Lathrop, and Evans. Acta Radiologica, 1966

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Collimator Theory (1961 - …)

collimators of the ACRH 4-probe brain scanning system (1962)

• A theoretical evaluation of brain scanning systems. Beck. J Nucl Med, 1961

• Collimators for radioisotope scanning systems. Beck. In Medical Radioisotope Scanning Vol 1, 1964

• A comparison of optimum collimator resolution based on a theory of detection and observer performance. Tsui, Beck, Metz, Atkins, & Starr. Phys Med Biol, 1978

• Collimator design using ray-tracing techniques. Beck & Redtung. IEEE Trans Nucl Sci, 1985

• Physics of collimator design. Tsui, Gunter, & Beck. In Diagnostic Nuclear Medicine 2nd ed (Gottschalk, Hoffer, Berger, & Potchen, Eds), 1988

ACRH 4-probe Brain Scanning System (1962)

• A theoretical evaluation of brain scanning systems. Beck. J Nucl Med, 1961 • The ACRH brain scanning system. Beck, Charleston, Eidelberg, & Harper. J Nucl Med, 1967 • ACRH brain scanner: Comparison between sensitivity and resolution based on a clinical

evaluation. Gottschalk, Abatie, Petasnick, Polcyn, Beck, & Charleston. In Medical Radioisotope Scintigraphy, Vol 1, 1969

4 probes

laterals anterior-posterior

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Cassen & Curtis (UCLA) 203-Hg injection Single detector comprising NaI crystal segments in oil

Anterior Posterior

Brain Scan Circa 1959

ACRH 4-probe Brain Scanning System (1962)

85 sec 10 min pi 2”/sec @ 0.25” 10 mCi TcO4

10 min 10+ min pi 0.9”/sec @ 0.0675” 10 mCi TcO4

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Semiconductor Detectors in the Future of Nuclear

Medicine (Hoffer, Beck, & Gottschalk, Eds), 1971

• The theoretical advantages of eliminating scatter in imaging systems. Beck, Zimmer, Charleston, Hoffer, & Lembares.

• The effect of minimization of scatter using lithium-drifted germanium detectors on phantom models and patients. Hoffer & Beck.

• Use of lithium-drifted germanium detectors for clinical radionuclide scanning. Hoffer, Beck, Lembares, Charleston, & Gottschalk. J Nucl Med, 1971

• Future of solid state detectors in cancer research. Hoffer, Gustaitis, & Beck. IEEE Trans Nucl Sci, 1972

• Aspects of imaging and counting in nuclear medicine using scintillation and semiconductor detectors. Beck, Zimmer, Charleston, & Hoffer. IEEE Trans Nucl Sci, 1972

• Applications of fluorescent scanning in nuclear medicine. Hoffer, Beck, Stark, & Peck. IEEE Trans Nucl Sci, 1973

• A theory of optimum utilization of all detected radiation. Beck, Zimmer, Charleston, Shipley, & Brunsden. In CONF-730321 USAEC, 1973

• Fluorescent thyroid scanning: What’s new? Hoffer, Bekerman, Bowie, & Beck. In CONF-730321 USAEC, 1973

• A new high sensitivity thyroid x-ray fluorexcence scnning system. Yasillo, Ortega, Charleston, & Beck. IEEE Trans Nucl Sci, 1981

Small Animal Imaging Systems (1960s)

A small animal scanning system. Beck & Charleston. Int J Appl Rad & Isotopes, 1964

3.5 min image 6011 counts ~30 microCi Tc-99m

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• Design considerations for a single tube gamma camera. Yasillo, Beck, & Cooper. IEEE Trans Nucl Sci, 1990

• A single-tube gamma camera for clinical imaging. Yasillo, Mintzer, Aarsvold, Beck, Block, Chen, Cooper, Heimsath, Matthews, Mintzer, Pan, Vazquez, & Wu. Conf Rec IEEE NSS-MIC, 1994

also, Aarsvold et al. 1994, 1995; Matthews et al. 1995, Mintzer et al. 1995a, 1995b

Small Animal Imaging Systems (1990s)

UC PETT-VI

UChicago Imaging Infrastructure

UC FMI PET Center (w/ Malcolm Cooper) (1980) UC Frank Center for Image Analysis (w/ Malcolm Cooper & Chin-Tu Chen) (1986) UC Maurice Goldblatt Center for MRI (w/ David Levin) (1986) UC-ANL Center for Imaging Science (w/ Albert Crewe) (1986)

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Multi-modal Registration & Image Analysis (1989)

• The brain: Integrated 3D display of MR and PET images. Levin, Hu, Tan, Galhotra, Pelizzari, Chen, Beck, Chen, Cooper, Mullan, Hekmatpanah, & Spire. Radiology, 1989

• Retrospective fusion of radiographic and MR data: Localization of subdural electrodes. Grzeszczuk, Tan, Levin, Pelizzari, Hu, Chen, Beck, Chen, Cooper, Milton, Spire, Towle, Dohrman, & Erickson. J Comput Asst Tomog, 1992

also, Hu et al. 1989; Levin et al. 1989, 1990

Imaging Science as Discipline (1989 - …)

also, • Overview of imaging science. Beck. Proc Natl Acad Sci, 1993 • Issues of imaging science for future considerations. Beck. Proc Natl Acad Sci, 1993 • The future of imaging science. Beck. In Advances in Visual Semiotics: The Semiotic Web

(Sebeok & Umiker-Sebeok, Eds), 1994

2004

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Imaging Science as Discipline (1989 - …)

also, • Overview of imaging science. Beck. Proc Natl Acad Sci, 1993 • Issues of imaging science for future considerations. Beck. Proc Natl Acad Sci, 1993 • The future of imaging science. Beck. In Advances in Visual Semiotics: The Semiotic Web

(Sebeok & Umiker-Sebeok, Eds), 1994

2004

Career Awards

SNM Aebersold Award (1991)

For outstanding achievement in basic science applied to nuclear medicine Computerworld Smithsonian Award (1991)

For heroic achievement in information technology – in recognition of your visionary use of information technology in the field of imaging science IEEE NPSS Medical Imaging Scientist Award (1996)

For fundamental contributions to the mathematical and physical theories underlying nuclear medicine, medical imaging, and imaging science and for contributions to education and inspiration of generations of imaging scientists

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March 26, 1928

—

August 6, 2008

Robert N. Beck