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Medical Effects of Diagnostic and Therapeutic Radiation

33 minutes

Part No. DVD15 [Ordering Page] OUTLINE OF MAJOR PROGRAM POINTS

(Medical Effects of Diagnostic Radiation)

The following outline summarizes the main points of information presented in this videotape or DVD program. The outline can be used to review the program before conducting a classroom session as well as in preparing to lead a class discussion about the program.

Most people have an opinion about exposure to radiation. Their opinion may be based on incorrect information which may lead to an overly casual attitude towards radiation or to an unreasonable fear of radiation. It is the objective of this video to present accurate information about the risks of medical radiation so that the medical community will be able to more accurately assess the benefits of diagnostic and therapeutic radiation in comparison to the risks.

This program is about radiation, specifically ionizing radiation

- Ionizing radiation includes such things as X-Rays, gamma rays, alpha particles and beta particles

Radiation produces ion pairs in the body which can produce free radicals that may attack the DNA in cells.

Damage to DNA may be beneficial (rarely) or neutral or harmful.

Radiation is a weak carcinogen. Radiation can produce cancer but it does so at a very low rate. One reason is that there are repair mechanisms that can repair damaged DNA

Not all cells are equally vulnerable to radiation. Types of cells that are most vulnerable to radiation damage include cells with a high oxygen content, those that are dividing rapidly and cells that are specialized

X-rays are produced by heating a filament and the electrons that are boiled off are accelerated in an electrical field, where they hit a target with the production of X-rays

X-rays are produced with varying energies with those having low energy being less desirable because they are absorbed by tissue without producing any useful information

Filtration can be used to screen out the low energy x-rays

Radiation Exposure - The effect of radiation is proportional to dose

1 REM - Some chromosome damage

25 REM - Drop in red and white blood cell counts

100 REM - Low grade radiation sickness, weakness, nausea

400 REM - Fatal to 50 percent of population

1000 REM - Fatal to 100 percent of population

Chronic Radiation Exposure - Various models have been proposed to correlate radiation dose with effects - These include the threshold model, the Linear No- Threshold Model and the Hormesis Model

The long term effects of radiation dose less than 10 REM is highly uncertain and calculating the probability of such effects is not recommended

Various medical procedures produce varying doses to the body, with X-rays usually giving the least dose and fluoroscopy usually giving the greatest dose of the diagnostic radiation procedures

During the last 100 years, the use of radiation for diagnostic purposes has greatly increased while the overall cancer incidence has gone down. This suggests that medical radiation has not produced a increase in cancer

Conclusions - Radiation can cause cancer but radiation is a weak carcinogen and medical radiation, in most cases, produces only a small increase in the risk of cancer thus justifying the use of radiation if some significant benefit can be obtained by the medical use of radiation. Medical procedures involving fluoroscopy can produce significant doses and special care should be taken to minimize dose with these procedures.

List of References

1. Medical Health Physics: A Review, Richard J.Vetter, Health Physics Journal, 2004, May, p. 445- 456

2. Radiation Doses During CT Fluoroscopy, Edward L. Nickoloff et. al. Health Physics Journal, 2000, December, p. 675 - 681

3. Update on Patient Radiation Doses at a Large Tertiary Care Medical Center, L.K. Ngutter et. al., Health Physics Journal, 2001, November, p. 530 - 535

4. Determining and Reporting Fetal Radiation Exposure from Diagnostic Radiation, P. Andrew Karam, Health Physics Journal, 2000 November, p. 85 - 90

Click on the controls below to see a sample of this video/DVD

Part No. DVD15 [Ordering Page]


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