Medical effects and risks of exposure to ionising radiation
- 1 March 2012
- journal article
- Published by IOP Publishing in Journal of Radiological Protection
- Vol. 32 (1), N9-N13
- https://doi.org/10.1088/0952-4746/32/1/n9
Abstract
Effects and risk from exposure to ionising radiation depend upon the absorbed dose, dose rate, quality of radiation, specifics of the tissue irradiated and other factors such as the age of the individual. Effects may be apparent almost immediately or may take decades to be manifest. Cancer is the most important stochastic effect at absorbed doses of less than 1 Gy. The risk of cancer induction varies widely across different tissues; however, the risk of fatal radiation-induced cancer for a general population following chronic exposure is about 5% Sv(-1). Quantification of cancer risk at doses of less than 0.1 Gy remains problematic. Hereditary risks from irradiation that might result in effects to offspring of humans appear to be much lower and any such potential risks can only be estimated from animal models. At high doses (over 1 Gy) cell killing and modification causes deterministic effects such as skin burns, and bone marrow depression, in which case immunosuppression becomes a critical issue. Acute whole body penetrating gamma irradiation at doses in excess of 2 Gy results in varying degrees of acute radiation sickness and doses over 10 Gy are usually lethal as a result of combined organ injury.Keywords
This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:
- Radiation-Related Heart Disease: Current Knowledge and Future ProspectsInternational Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, 2010
- Fluoroscopically Guided Interventional Procedures: A Review of Radiation Effects on Patients’ Skin and HairRadiology, 2010
- Radiation Cataractogenesis: A Review of Recent StudiesRadiation Research, 2009