Radiation Protection
Radiation protection refers to the concepts, requirements, technologies and operations designed to shield people (radiation workers, members of the public and patients receiving radiotherapy treatment or diagnosis) from potential radiation risks. Risk mitigation combines technical and organisational measures in order to limit risks as much as possible, taking into account social, economic, and other considerations. Early in the twentieth century, radiation protection became an established concept as it became apparent that radiation can have many beneficial applications, especially medical diagnosis and therapy. Unfortunately, however, exposure to radiation also poses risks which must be considered when using it for any use – whether medical or non-medical.
Radiation protection principles typically follow two general principles of justification and optimisation. The first principle states that any practice that exposes individuals or society as a whole to radiation must produce sufficient benefits to justify any potential detriments (i.e. cancer risk).
Optimisation principle seeks to minimize radiation exposure as much as practicable while taking into account social, economic and other relevant considerations. With our current knowledge on low dose effects of radiation combined with conservative assumptions and estimates for radiation levels naturally found in backgrounds, most individuals should experience very small stochastic risks from routine practices or exposure to naturally occurring background radiation sources.
Radiation safety is a complex area, and improvements must be made across various fronts to make the subject matter accessible to those affected by radiation practices. One important strategy would be increasing involvement by those impacted in decision-making relating to such practices. Attaining this goal requires increasing access to information and education, and increasing efforts in creating a culture of safety. However, it should be emphasized that even an effective set of safety rules cannot ensure complete protection from radiation hazards. When natural disasters or terrorist acts occur that necessitate exposure to radioactive material, knowing what steps to take in order to limit it becomes critical.
Radiation Treatment
Radiation therapy utilizes energy sources like x-rays, protons and gamma rays to destroy cancerous or benign (noncancerous) tumor cells. It may be used alone or combined with surgery and chemotherapy/immunotherapy treatments such as immunotherapy. Radiation may cause side effects like skin changes and fatigue; therefore it is important that any changes or fatigue is reported promptly to your physician.
Your radiation therapy treatments could take place at a hospital or clinic, where your care team includes a radiation oncologist to oversee treatment; a medical physicist ensures accurate radiation delivery; dosimetrists help plan your personalized plan; dosimetrists mark areas to be treated; dosimetrists assist with dosimetry planning and marking, while radiation therapists operate the machine that delivers radiation; finally a dosimetrist plans your individual session and coordinates your custom treatment;
External beam radiation therapy will likely take several weeks. Sessions typically last 10-30 minutes each. You’ll lie on a table while wearing either a body mold or mesh face mask and being held still by cushions and props provided by your radiation therapist; as they use cushions and props to hold you still during rotations around your body while the linear accelerator machine buzzes by with its rotating arm to reach different targets from various angles; your radiation oncologist stays nearby and communicates directly with both of them via video and audio links.
