Low Dose Radiation Effects in Human Cells

Abstract

There is considerable current interest in the nature of the radiation dose response relationship at low doses and low dose rates. Most radiation survival curves are characterized by the existence of a shoulder at low doses, where radiation appears less efficient at killing cells per unit dose than at higher exposures. This phenomenon is of considerable interest to radiotherapists, as the size of the daily doses employed often fall within this shoulder region. The interest in the dose response curve for mutagenesis and carcinogenesis has been given impetus by the need to estimate the risk of low dose radiation exposure in human populations by extrapolation from effects measured in epidemiologic studies involving much higher doses.