RADIATION The emission of energy as electromagnetic waves or as moving subatomic particles.

Some Terms:

- Radiation Therapy: The treatment of disease, esp. cancer, using X-rays or similar forms of radiation. - X Ray: A picture produced by exposing photographic film to X-rays: used in medicine as a diagnostic aid as parts of the body, such as bones, absorb X-rays and so appear as opaque areas on the picture

What is radiation, and what is it used for?

Radiation is a type of energy that comes from a source and travels through some types material or through space. Light, heat and sound are types of radiation.

Radiation is used in many aspectsof medicine for diagnosis and therapy. - The use of X rays for examining patients is called

diagnostic radiology.- the use of pharmaceuticals labelled with radionuclides

for diagnosis or therapy is called nuclear medicine.- When radiation beams are used to treat patients, this is

called radiotherapy.

Radiation Therapy Radiation therapy specifically acts against cells that are

reproducing rapidly. Radiation therapy uses high energy x-rays to damage the DNA of these cells, therefore killing the cancer and stopping them from reproducing. Radiation does also damage normal cells, but because normal cells are grow more slowly, they are better able to repair this radiation damage than cancer cells. In order to give normal cells time to heal and to reduce a patient's side effects, radiation treatments are typically given in small daily doses, five days a week, over a six-or seven-week period. It is estimated that more than 50% of cancer patients will receive radiation at some point during their treatment.

X Rays

Radiography is the use of X-rays to view a non-consistent composed material such as the human body. By using the physical properties of the ray an image can be developed which displays areas of different density and composition.

X Ray Machine

How is radiation therapy given?

It treats a specific localized area of the body. There are two main types of radiation therapy: - External radiation therapy and this is where a beam of

radiation is directed from outside the body.- Internal radiation therapy (also called brachytherapy or

implant therapy)and this is where a source of radioactivity is surgically placed inside the body near the tumor/late stage cancer cells.

- External radiation can also be called x-ray therapy, cobalt therapy, proton therapy, or intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). This type of radiation is controlled using a machine called a linear accelerator.

Pictures of a linear accelerator

Resources

Google Images http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Booklets

/RadPeopleEnv/medical.html http://www.oncolink.org/treatment/article

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