Ionising Radiation and Its Effects on Living Tissue

Abstract

Some knowledge of the effects of ionising radiation on living tissue is necessary, for those who wish to understand the nature of any treatment using radiation and who also wish to inform patients about such treatment. Correct information is particularly important in this regard, because of the associations that the word radiation has for most people. Most powerful therapeutic methods arouse concern or anxiety amongst those who will be subjected to them. However, medicine or the surgeon’s knife may also be viewed with some degree of relief. This is not the case for treatment involving ionising radiation. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, everyone has seen films of the agonising effects of radiation fall-out from nuclear bombs. Secondly, there is something particularly horrid about the idea of an invisible entity, creeping into the body, producing no apparent initial effect but followed by untold harm, at a later date. The unpleasantness is compounded by the nature of the harm that may develop: in that sterility and cancer are amongst the commonest consequences of exposure to excess irradiation. Thirdly the concept of radiotherapy is indissolubly linked in the public mind with cancer. This last provides particular difficulties for the patient with an intracranial tumour, where radiation treatment may be advisable because of a tumour’s inaccessibility, rather than its malignancy. What follows is simple and qualitative. Those seeking a more definitive account of these matters should refer to the excellent “Basic Clinical Radiobiology” [1].