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Therapeutic uses of radiotherapy
Benefits and disadvantages of radiotherapy
Benefits and disadvantages of radiotherapy
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What is radiation?
Radiation is energy that comes from a source and travels in the form of waves or high speed
particles. Radiation is mainly released from atoms, which is the smallest particle of matter.
When radiation is emitted, it excites the orbiting electrons in atoms and causes the electrons
to vibrate, which emits the energy.
There are two types of radiation, namely Ionizing radiation and non-ionizing radiation. Non- ionizing radiation has a low energy level and therefore cannot change the chemical properties
of a substance that it is exposed to. Ionizing radiation is the portion of the electromagnetic
spectrum with sufficient energy to pass through matter and physically dislodge orbital
electrons to form ions. These ions in turn can produce biological changes when introduced
into tissues. Ionizing radiation can exist in two forms: as an electromagnetic wave such as x- ray or gamma ray or as particle in the form of an alpha or beta particle neutron or proton.
Radiation is used in our daily lives without noticing it or realizing the benefits it provides.
Ionizing radiation plays an important role in medicine or in the radiography departments,
where it is used for different medical procedures for diagnosis and treatment of diseases. X- rays is a common form of ionizing radiation used to view anatomic structures abnormalities
and diseases. Radiation is also used for the treatment of diseases within different anatomic
structures, such as cancer.
What is medical imaging?
Medical imaging is techniques that are used to view anatomical structures and monitor
diseases. Medical imaging can be used to diagnose, treat and potentially cure patients without
harming them in anyway. Medical physicists are...
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...ple would have permanent disabilities, because of the internal
damages that has occurred to them and cannot be detected, but through the use of radiation
specialists can diagnose the damage that has occurred internally so as to give a chance for
professionals such as doctors to give specific treatment for the damage.
Through the use of ultrasound in radiation we are able to detect the foetus before it is born;
people have an opportunity to see the development of the foetus. Ultrasound has radiation
and is affordable.
In South Africa malignant diseases were treated by herbal mixtures, there was a high rate
of death due to cancer, pandemic. In nowadays the use of radiotherapy to treat cancer has
brought a huge impact and made a big difference in people’s lives. Medical imaging in South
Africa has made a significant spot the use of Computed Tomography.
Physicists started to realize that stable nuclei can be converted to unstable nuclei. Through such process, they discovered that heavy nuclei can undergo nuclear fission. While testing, they added a neutron to an isotope of Uranium 235. This resulted Uranium 235 to become unstable and break down into Barium and Krypton, releasing two to three more neutrons. The breakdown of Uranium 235 is called “fission”.
All these effects were the cause of the discovery of nuclear fission and its properties. Nuclear Fusion Nuclear fusion is the process used by the sun and the stars in our solar system to produce their energy. Fusion involves smashing hydrogen atoms together at high velocities to form helium, and the matter is made into energy.
requiered to determine treatment. Lab tests or imaging is often requiered as well. It’s chronic,
Radiation Effects Research Foundation. (2007). How radiation affects cells. In Basics About Radiation. Retrieved from http://www.rerf.jp/radfx/basickno_e/radcell.htm
Radiation therapy is the utilization of radiation in order to treat diseases like cancer as well as to detect other ailments that someone may have. Since the development of radiation therapy many advancements have been made both to the process of using radiation itself, which in turn increased its effectiveness for medical use, and to the study of other possible uses for radiation. The concepts behind radiation therapy are not overly complicated, but they are still revolutionary ideas that have greatly impacted society and people’s wellness.
Radiation therapy is the use of “high-energy particles or waves, such as x-rays, gamma rays, electron beams, or protons, used to destroy or damage cancer cells” (Hage 1). The human body consists of a large number of cells which grow and multiply every day, however when cancer cells arise they multiply faster than a normal cell would. Cancer is considered hundreds of different diseases because there are so many types of them and is identified by its abnormal cell growth and ability to migrate throughout the body (Aggarwal). Radiation therapy helps with breaking down cancer cells and eventually kills them, stopping the cell division of these harmful cells. In the attempt to prevent these cancer cells to continue to multiply, healthy cells may also be destroyed but luckily radiation therapy has different methods to target the cells it wants to kill. Ideally, doctors only want to destroy the harmful cells but radiation has
Radiation has always been in everyday life even before Roentgen discovered x-ray. The mountains give off natural radiation, other forms of radiation are coal burning power plants, x-rays from a TV, and an airplane ride. The average dose from background radiation is about 360 mrem every year. There are two types of radiation, nonionizing and ionizing radiation. Examples of nonionizing radiation are microwaves and radio waves broadcasting. Ionizing radiation refers to gamma and x-rays. Ionizing radiation means that the rays are able to remove an electron from the atom then ions can be formed. The ions can cause damage when reacting with other atoms. Cells are able to be repaired if low dose are received. However, if cells get a high dose, the cells will be damaged or possibly die. If the cell is damaged permanently then it is referred to as a mutated cell.
Ionizing radiation has enough energy to break chemical bonds and knock electrons out of atoms, some examples of these are x-rays and ultraviolet light rays from the sun. That is why radiation is a way to treat cancer because of the strong energy it has to destroy a cancer cell, actually any cell in the body. That’s the issue with radiation therapy, is it worth the damage? It can damage any cell, whether it is healthy or cancerous, which can cause a major affect in the body later on. Although it sounds scary, there are other types of treatments such as chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, photodynamic therapy, etc.
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.”
Alpha radiation/emission - Alpha particles are the nuclei of a Helium atom 42He. Consisting of two protons and two neutrons, positively charged.
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
Images of human anatomy have been around for more than 500 years now. From the sketches created by Leonardo da Vinci, to the modern day Computed Tomography (CT) or Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan, images have played a great role in medicine. Evolution in medical imaging brought together people from various disciplines such as Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics, a collaboration which has further contributed to healthcare as a whole. Modern day imaging improves medical workflows by facilitating a non-invasive insight into human body, accurate and timely diagnostics, and persistence of an analysis.
What is radioactivity? Radioactive isotopes are heavy nuclei of certain elements having extra neutrons. The extra neutrons in their nuclei cause them to be unstable so the nuclei break up spontaneously, emitting alpha, beta and gamma radiations. For example,
A system in which medical doctors and other healthcare professionals (such as nurses, pharmacists, and therapists) treat symptoms and diseases using drugs, radiation, or surgery. (NCI, para. 1)