Abstract
As photons pass through matter, such as a patient’s soft tissue, bone, or any other structure, various interactions (i. e., events that cause changes) may take place. These different interactions become competing processes. The relative prevalence of any particular type of interaction depends on two major factors, the photon energy and the atomic composition of the medium. In some interactions, a part of the energy of the photon is transferred to the electrons belonging to the atoms or molecules in the tissue. These electrons, because of their short range (compared to photons), dissipate their energy locally around the sites of the interactions. Such locally absorbed energy becomes the cause of radiation effects or damage. If a photon enters and leaves the medium with its entire energy intact, or if it merely changes its direction in an interaction, no radiation dose is delivered.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Additional Reading
Anderson, D.W., Absorption of Ionizing Radiation, University Park Press, Baltimore, 1984.
Evans, R.D., Atomic Nucleus, McGraw Hill, New York, 1955; republished by Krieger, 1986.
Attix, F.H. and Tochilin, E., Radiation Dosimetry, Vol. 1, Academic Press, New York, 1969.
Hubbell, J.H., Review of photon interaction cross section data in the medical and biological context, Phys. Med. Biol., Vol. 44, pp R1–20, 1999.
Hubbell, J.H., Seltzer, S.M., Tables of x-ray mass attenuation coefficients and mass energy-absorption coefficients from 1 keV to20 MeV for elements Z = 1 to 92 and 48additional substances of dosimetric interest, Report NISTIR 5632, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, USA, 1996.
Hubbell, J.H., Photon mass attenuation and energy-absorption coefficients from 1 keV to 20 MeV, Int. J. Appl. Radiat. Isot., Vol. 33, p1269–1290, 1982.
Storm, E. and Israel, H.I., Photon cross sections from 1 keV to 100 MeV for elements Z = 1 to Z = 100, Nuclear Data Tables, Vol. A7, p641–689, 1970.
International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements, Tissue Substitutes in Radiation Dosimetry and Measurement, ICRU Report 45, International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements, Bethesda, Maryland, 1989.
White, D.R. and Constantinou, C., Anthropomorphic phantom materials, Chapter 3, in Progress in Medical Radiation Physics (Ed: Orton, C.G.), Plenum Press, New York, 1982.
National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, Report No. 79, Neutron Contamination from Medical Electron Accelerators, National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, Bethesda, Maryland, 1987.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2004 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Jayaraman, S., Lanzl, L.H. (2004). Photon Interactions. In: Clinical Radiotherapy Physics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-18549-6_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-18549-6_7
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-62155-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-18549-6
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive