Health Care Issues: Radiation Exposure and Acute Radiation Syndrome

From surgery to radium exposure to such extremes as radiation therapy, as doctors’ knowledge of the varying types of cancer, and the expansion of medical research regarding cancer has changed, so has the preferred method of treatment. Doctors and researchers dedicated to studying cancer have led to a greater understanding of cancer development; consequently the development of treatments and cures that are more effective, less harmful, have fewer side effects, and in some cases serve to prevent the spread of cancer.

Cancer is defined as the abnormal, uncontrolled division of cells in the body. This uncontrollable growth causes a growth or tumour on the body. The tumours that are formed can either be benign or malignant. Malignant tumours can attack other cells and destroy them. Cancer has been around for ages and millions of people have died from cancer. There are many types of cancer and there are different reasons why people get cancer. Luckily, there are many treatments in place to help people who have cancer. Some popular options for treating cancer would be surgically removing the tumour or growth, or undergoing radiation therapy or chemotherapy. These treatments are commonly used amongst patients who have cancer. Alternatively there is another treatment that could be used to cure cancer, Proton Therapy. Proton Therapy works by directing a strong dose of radiation to the cancerous tumour (Advanced Particle Therapy, n.d.). In this essay, the advantages and disadvantages of Proton Therapy will be discussed in

Doctors had been using radiation to destroy cancerous cells since the unfolding of X-rays and radium in the 1890s, but both techniques had their own issues. X-ray machines were complicated to make use of, and radium implanted near tumors. In addition, X-rays weren’t strong enough to be entirely effective, and as for both of them, they were quite expensive.

Furthermore, X-ray of higher energy than required for imaging is used for radiation therapy. The radiation therapy makes use of ionization radiation (and no images) for the treatment of diseases, such as

It is the use of high-powered x-rays that destroy tumor cells. A radiation oncologist is the doctor who specializes in radiation therapy. There are two types of radiation therapy: 1.) external-beam radiation which is given from a machine outside the body and 2.) internal radiation which is given using implants. The external-beam radiation therapy is much more common than internal radiation. It can be directed at the tumor in many ways such as conventional radiation therapy, 3 dimensional conformal radiation therapy, intensity modulated radiation therapy, proton therapy, stereotactic radiosurgery, and fractionated stereotactic radiosurgery. Choosing one of these techniques depends on the size and location of the

Radiation therapy is the ionization of atoms in tissues resulting in formation of highly reactive radicals in a well-defined, restricted volume (1). In other words, ionizing radiations are used to eradicate tumors and at the same time preserve structure and function of normal tissue. A limitation is prevented from being a problem. If bone marrow or neuronal cells are destroyed or injured, they do not regenerate. However, with radiation therapy, these cells are often saved from injury or destruction, unless the tumor is infecting bone marrow or neuronal cells. Today, radiation therapy is the most popular type of cancer therapy in use. It is used to treat one-half to two-thirds of all cancers, which translates to more than ten percent of the population

All kinds of ionizing radiation that used in health care centers in medical diagnosis and therapy processes, as well the radiation used in diagnostic radiology is the field of medicine that uses radiation to make an imaging exams and procedures to diagnose a patient. In another hand it’s used to treatment for many kind of disease especially to cure from cancer. In any form of medical care, diagnostic radiology plays a significant role in the diagnosis and treatment of disease or injury. The exams often use radiation, at many levels that have been determined and adjusted to be safe as possible, to create detailed anatomical images. (Bekas M, et al, 2016)

Therapeutic nuclear medicine is used in many different ways to help and treat patients when they are fighting cancer or other diseases. Doctors will take the steps to do whatever they can to make sure that the patient will survive or at least achieve improvement in their health to some degree. When a patient is undergoing surgery to remove the cancer cells, the doctors will often have them go through radiation beforehand to shrink the cancer or tumor down to a size that is easier to remove and to ensure they are not removing more than necessary. Often during surgery, the surgeons will again treat the patient with radiation while they are open so that the radiation is hitting the direct tumor or cancer cells being targeted. Another benefit is that it provides the radiation treatment without having to direct it through the skin again. This reduces the amount of radiation that the patient is getting to a certain degree. Once the surgery is over, the patient will often have to continue with more treatments to make sure that, if anything was missed, it will be attacked by the radiation and be prevented from spreading. Eliminating the cancerous cells can often take more than one type of medical therapy, and it can often take multiple treatments (Radiation

The effects of radiation can be hazardous to any part of the human body. In this guide I will explain the advantages, and disadvantages of x-ray radiation. I will also discuss the technological advances that we have today then of what we had the past on the human body during radiation exposure. I will explain preventions of exposure and safety precautions that we as dental assistants as well as patients can follow to stay safe.

Internal Radiation is what usually is used when external therapy is not as efficient as it should be since the purpose of internal radiation is to allow a higher dosage of radiation to be given to a particular small cancerous area that the external is not able to deliver to. The way this is distributed is through something known as an implant and it is just as it is sounds since something is implanted inside or extremely near the tumor.

Radiotherapy, also called radiation therapy, is the treatment of cancer and other diseases with radiation. Radiotherapy is used when the entire primary tumor cannot be surgically removed. Radiotherapy deposits energy

A very common problem is when people are working in the field of radioactive milling, enrichment, reprocessing, waste storage, meltdown, etc. are known to suffer from the radiation from nuclear material. Sometimes patients are required to follow special preparation beforehand to achieve accurate results, for example certain medication may need to be stopped or a certain diet must be followed. A major drawback of radiation therapy is the collateral damage it causes to surrounding tissues in organs, although improvements, have made targeting more precise, it is impossible to administer ionising radiation to cancerous tissue without harming healthy

Somehow not only drugs but other option to treats tumour for targeted therapy oncologist will used radiation which radioactive rays are used to cure or palliate cancers. The objective is to deliver a therapeutic dose of radiation to the malignant tissue, leaving healthy, surrounding tissues unharmed. Radiation therapy is used to treat many cancers, including cancers of bone, brain, breast, cervix, lymphoid tissues, and uterus. By then, from diagnosis through end of life, nurses play an obscure role in enhancing the quality of life of the patients especially which has undergone the treatment or newly diagnosed. Nurses are in a unique position to manipulate both the physiologic

‘The Chernobyl accident in 1986 was the result of a flawed reactor design that was operated with inadequately trained personnel’ (‘Chernobyl Accident’ 2010). But this is not a reason why we should stop using nuclear energy. The Chernobyl disaster was an accident due to a faulty reactor and poorly trained workers. The nuclear energy process produces isotopes that are useful in medicine for diagnosis and treatment of cancer. ‘The energy given off by radioisotopes is very effective at zapping diseased cells. When they are delivered straight to the cancer cells, healthy tissues are spared while cancer cells are eliminated. Medical isotopes are delivered to the cancer cells in several different ways’ (‘Frequently Asked Questions’ 2008). In addition nuclear medicine helps provide diagnostic information about specific organs. ‘Diagnostic techniques in nuclear medicine use radioactive tracers which emit gamma rays from within the body. These tracers are generally short-lived isotopes linked to chemical compounds which permit specific physiological processes to be scrutinised’ (‘Radioisotopes in Medicine’ 2010). Pursuing this further, nuclear energy can also be used to sterilize medical supplies to ensure it is safe to in a process called radiation sterilization. There are different methods of radiation sterilization such as gamma rays, electron beams, x-rays, or subatomic particles with all having different properties.

Strong harmful doses of radiation are used when performing medical treatments or procedures such as CT scans or X-rays. CT scans play a major role