Download Radiation Therapy Walzer RYAN - English100

Radiation
Therapy (RT)
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Radiation therapy uses high-energy radiation to shrink tumors and kill
cancer cells. X-rays, gamma rays, and charged particles are types of
radiation used for cancer treatment
The radiation may be delivered by a machine outside the body (externalbeam radiation therapy), or it may come from radioactive material placed
in the body near cancer cells (internal radiation therapy, also
called brachytherapy).
http://www.canc
er.gov/aboutcancer/treatment
/types/radiationtherapy/radiation
-fact-sheet#q1
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Marie Curie (1867–1934), who discovered the radioactive
elements polonium and radium in 1898. This began a new era in
medical treatment and research. Radium was used in various
forms until the mid-1900s, when cobalt therapy and caesium units
came into use. Finally, Medical Linear Accelerators have been
used as radiation sources since the late 1940s.
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http://www.biography.com/people/marie-urie-9263538
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“Soon after the discovery of radium in 1898 by Marie Curie, there was speculation in whether
the radiation could be used for therapy in the same way as that from x-rays. The physiological
effect of radium was first observed in 1900 by Otto Walkhoff,] and later confirmed by what
famously known as the "Becquerel burn".
In 1901, Henri Becquerel, had placed a tube of radium in a waistcoat pocket where it had
remained for several hours; a week or two after which there was severe inflammation of his
skin underneath where the radium had been kept. Ernest Besnier, a dermatologist, examined
the skin and expressed the opinion that it was due to the radium, leading to experiments by
Curie which confirmed it. Besnier suggested the use of radium for therapy along the same
purposes as x-rays and ultraviolet
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Ionizing (or ionising in British English) radiation is radiation that carries enough energy to
free electrons from atoms or molecules, thereby ionizing them. Ionizing radiation is made up of
energetic subatomic particles, ions or atoms moving at high speeds (usually greater than 1% of the speed of
light), and electromagnetic waves on the high-energy end of the electromagnetic spectrum.
High radiation dose gives rise to deterministic effects which reliably occur above a threshold, and their
severity increases with dose. Deterministic effects are not necessarily more or less serious than stochastic
effects; either can ultimately lead to a temporary nuisance or a fatality. Examples are: radiation burns, and/or
rapid fatality through acute radiation syndrome, chronic radiation syndrome, and radiation-induced
thyroiditis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionizing_ra
diation
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Gamma Rays
Marie Curie
Polonium
Radiation Treatment
Radium
Ultraviolet
Electromagnetic Waves
Ionizing Radiation
Physiological effects
Medical linear accelerators
1.
When was radiation first used to treat cancer?
2.
Who found out about radiation?
3.
There are many side effects to using radiation
therapy, but is it worth it worth the risk of
forming another cancer?