Radiation: Medical Application and Side Effects

Radiation is widely applied today in medical field. Radiology Department of a hospital uses radiation for both diagnostic purposes and for treatment of a disease condition. A patient is subjected to powerful radiations in the form of x-rays, CT scan, etc. for diagnostic purposes. Gamma rays, which are high-energy x-rays, are also used in radiation. The electromagnetic radiation from these sources passes through the body tissues resulting in the structural change of tissues or even cell death. Long-term exposure to radiation can lead to many complications and exposure to radiation in high-doses can even be fatal.

In medical parlance, there are two types of radiations used. First one relates to the use of x-ray and CT scan for diagnostic purposes and the second one involves the use of electromagnetic radiation or high-energy x-rays called Gamma rays. Gamma rays are used widely in radiation oncology or the use of radiation in the treatment of neoplasms that might be benign (benign tumor) or malignant (cancer). Gamma rays are used to destroy the affected cells resulting in death of the tumor cells and surrounding tissues.

The side effects of radiation exposure can be limited to that particular person who is subjected to it or can even lead to genetic malignancy which may affect the next generations also. The effects of radiation can be immediate like vision changes due to damage to the cornea and infertility. The long-term effects include cancer of the skin etc.

The extent of side-effects of radiation is also determined by many factors like age, organs subjected to exposure, and dosage. Children and the elderly are the worst affected with radiation as the immune system are either in the developing stage or in the declining stage whereas adults are less affected due to their strong immune system. Ovary, kidneys, reproductive system, eyes, bone marrow etc. are easily affected by the rays.

Sievert (Sv) is the SI unit of ionizing radiation effective dose, equal to the absorbed dose in gray, weighted for both the quality of radiation in question and the tissue response to that radiation. The unit is the joule per kiligram and 1 Sv=100 rem.