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Effects of radiation on the body essay
Effect of radiation on human body conclusion
Effect of radiation on human body conclusion
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Gamma rays can be used for many different applications, they could be of very little importance, or they could be life saving. One very important use for gamma rays is for cancer radiation therapy. Radiation therapy is a high radiation transmitted to the body to shrink tumors and kill cancer cells. The main type of radiation is using gamma rays. There are two other types; x-rays and charged particles. A machine outside of the body delivers the radiation. However in some cases it can be delivered internally through a radioactive material placed near the cancer cells. About half of all cancer patients receive some type of radiation therapy sometime, the course of their treatment. Gamma radiation therapy kills cancer cells by damaging their individual DNA. Therapy can either damage DNA directly or create charged particles (free radicals) within the cells that can in turn damage the DNA. Damaged cancer cells either stop dividing or die. They are then broken down and eliminated by natural processes inside of the body. However radiation therapy can also damage normal cells. The amount of radiation that normal tissue can safely receive is known for all parts of the body. Doctors use this information to help them decide where to aim radiation during treatment. X-rays and gamma ray photons are part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The twin nature of electromagnetic radiation is used to justify the wave and its behavior. A photon is a bundle of energy that can be identified by the equation E = hv. Where h is the planks constant and v is the frequency. The frequency is equal to the speed of light 3x10 8 divided by the wavelength. Therefore, high-energy radiations have a short wavelength and a high frequency. The interaction of a photon bea... ... middle of paper ... ...hort history starting with the discovery of x-rays in 1875. The first evidence that radiation could do harm came a few months after, when an x-ray worker developed injuries to his skin. Grave efforts to understand and manage radiation exposures started in the 1920s and greatly expanded during World War II and are still expanding today. Information on the effects of comes from studies of exposed, from animal experiments, and from studies at the cellular level. It is now well recognized that radiation has both timely and postponed effects. At very high radiation exposures, death will occur within several months or less. At moderate levels, radiation exposure increases the chance that a being will develop cancer, with a time delay of ten or more years. At low levels, the cancer risk decreases, but the bond between cancer risk and the scale of the exposure is hesitant.
Radiation therapy is a growing field that has not been around very long. This field works with patients that have many different types of cancer ranging from leukemia, lung cancer, prostate cancer, cervical cancer, and brain cancer among others. Cancer can be effectively treated using surgical, chemical and radiation treatment or a combination of the three. Many advantages and disadvantages have emerged when considering the use of radiation therapy and these pros and cons should be discussed thoroughly between the Oncologist and patient before a decision has been made on a course of action. Special licensing is required to enter this specialized field of radiation therapy and can be obtained through special programs.
“External radiation uses a machine that directs high-energy rays from outside the body into the tumor and some normal nearby tissue.” (American Cancer Society p. 5) After this treatment the patient will not be radioactive, but treatment is delivered in small doses and can last several weeks. “Internal radiation or brachytherapy, uses a radioactive source, called an implant, that’s put inside the body in or near the tumor.” (American Cancer Society p. 9) It may be placed in an organ or in the cancerous tumor. The patient will be radioactive for a short time. Due to the implant being near the source of cancer a larger dose can be delivered to the patient. “Systemic radiation uses radioactive drugs to treat certain type of cancer.” (American Cancer Society p. 12) The drugs used are called radiopharmaceuticals and can be delivered orally or intravenously. “They collect where the cancer is to give off their radiation and kill the cancer cells.” (American Cancer Society p. 12) After this treatment the patient will be radioactive, and will take a few days to be removed from the patients
The person accredited with the initial discovery of x-rays is Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen on November 8, 1895 in Germany. However, Dr. Otto Walkhoff, a dentist in Germany took the first dental radiograph, and Dr. C. Edmund Kells from New Orleans took the first intraoral radiographs in the United States in April 1896.
The third type of radiation is gamma radiation. Gamma radiation and X-rays are part of the electromagnetic radiation like visible light, radio waves, and ultraviolet light. These electromagnetic radiations differ by the amount of energy's they have. Gamma radiation can penerate through most materials including skin, it can travel very deep in human tissues as well. Gamma radiation has abosolutly no mass and is able to travle in the speed of light. It is very fast and very strong. When radioactive materials release gamma radiation it can be both externally and internally hazards for humans.
The Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) created the Therac-25 radiation therapy machine (Death and Denial). The major innovation of this machine is that it was much more computer-controlled than the previous machines of its kind. This enabled technicians to spend less time setting up the machine and more time working directly with patients. The reduced setup time also increased the number of patients that were able to be treated in one day (ComputingCases). Patients undergoing treatment from the Therac-25 are in communication with the machine operator (located in a separate room) through AV monitors (Death and Denial).
and Medical radiation used as a diagnostic aid as x-ray machines, CT scans, and other tests, as well as in treatment i.e. radiation therapy. Radiation therapy or radiotherapy is used in the treatment of cancer using higher doses of ionizing radiation than that used in diagnostic aids.
If radiation caused cancer you would wonder why was cancer patients given radiation. Radiation is used on cancer patients to destroy all the cancer cells But like other treatments, it often causes side effects. radiation therapy can also damage healthy cells and tissues near the treatment area. That’s how it can be harmful. These are different for each person. They depend on the type of cancer, its location, the radiation therapy dose, and your general health. Most side effects go away after treatment. But some continue, come back, or develop later. You may include developing a second cancer because of radiation therapy. Radiation therapy is a local treatment. only affects the area of the body where the tumor is located. Common general side effects of radiation skin problems, fatigue, hair loss, radiation recall, appetite loss, attention or thinking, or memory
Radiation exposure can affect children as well an children have the risk of being the most harmfully effected by radiation because their body absorbs substances differently also their bodies can or are more likely to get certain kinds of cancers from too much exposure, “they are also closer to the ground, where radioactive fallouts settle.”
In order to understand the risks associated with nuclear energy, it is necessary to understand the properties of radiation and their effects. The term radiation refers to a wide range of things. Ionizing radiation is the kind that can and does cause damage. Ionizing radiation creates ions when it strikes something, which can then affect matter such as human tissue. The two main types of ionizing radiation are electromagnetic and particle. Ionizing electromagnetic radiation includes x-rays, gamma rays, and cosmic rays. Ionizing particle radiation involves alpha particles, which are helium nuclei, beta particles or electrons, and neutrons. Gamma rays, alpha particles, and beta particles are the main forms of radioactivity associated with nuclear power (Taylor, 1996).
Nuclear Medicine is the use of radioisotopes for diagnosis, treatment, and research. Radioactive chemical tracers emit gamma rays which provides diagnostic information about a person's anatomy and the functioning of specific organs. Radioisotopes are also utilizes in treatments of diseases such as cancer. It is estimated that approximately one in two people in Western countries are likely to experience the benefits of nuclear medicine in their lifetime.
Radiation therapists work closely with patients to fight cancer. According to Health Care Careers, Oncologists, Dosimetrists and nurses are some of the professionals that a radiation therapist works with while caring for a cancer patient. This group of professionals will determine a specialized treatment plan. The first step usually includes a CT scan performed by a radiologist to find the exact area that needs to be targeted with x-rays. Next, the therapist uses a special machine that emits radiation called a Linear Accelerator. They use this machine during a treatment called external beam therapy. During this process, the Linear Accelerator will project x-rays at targeted cancer cells or tumors. Another therapist will be in a different room monitoring the patient’s viral signs until the procedure is over. The external therapy l...
Also you will lose your hair very quickly if exposed to a high amount of radiation. Like the heart radiation kills cells and small blood vessels, and can cause seizures and immediate death. When a person is exposed to around 100 rems the blood's lymphocyte cell count will be reduced, leaving the victim more prone to infection. This is called mild radiation sickness. Early symptoms of radiation sickness can be a lot like those of flu and may go unnoticed unless a blood count is done. According to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, studies show that symptoms may last for up to 10 years and may also have an increased long-term risk for leukemia and
The energy in ionizing radiation can cause chemical changes in the the cells that can lead to damaging them. Most of the cells can either permanently or temporarily become abnormal or they can just die. Radiation can cause cancer by damaging the DNA in the body. The damage of the cells can also depend on how long the organs are exposed (environmental protection agency, 2017, unknown). If someone has many exposures at one time that radiation in the body keeps adding on. As well as if its only a little bit of exposure in on day and years later you get exposed again it keeps adding on the radiation will never leave the body. Having radiation in your body doesn’t affect you right away but as you get older it starts to show and you feel it. Chronic exposure is when someone is exposed many time for long periods. When this happens the type of effects it will carry is having harmful generic change, cancer, tumors, and even cataracts. Partial health effects can also depend on if it was internal or external exposure. Internal exposure is when either by drinking, breathing, eating and even an injection cause radiation to get inside your body. External exposure is when taking an x-ray out of your body and letting it go through letting all the energy go as it goes in (environmental protection agency, 2017, unknown). In the dental world radiation gets into the patients when we take x-rays on there teeth. In order to avoid to much radiation on them we put a lead apron on them and make sure to cover their thyroid which is the most common way of getting cancer when taking an x-ray. When we take the x-ray we stand behind a wall at least 6 feet away to avoid ourself from getting
In conclusion, gamma rays, I have learned, are dangerous but sometimes useful. There has been a great deal of research put into studying gamma rays and gamma ray radiation. Gamma rays have a tremendous amount of energy and their wave lengths are very small. I would have never thought there was something like gamma rays that could cause cancers.
Electromagnetic radiation is energy that flows through free space. Electromagnetic radiation comes in a list of energies known as the electromagnetic spectrum. Electromagnetic spectrum is the complete range of the different wavelength of electromagnetic radiation. It consists of light, radio waves, visible light, infrared waves, ultraviolet light, x-rays, microwaves and gamma rays.