The Effects Of Radiation On Patients With Pgc Undergoing Xrt

Over the past few decades one of the main arguments patients have when going to see a dentist is the amount of radiation they are exposed to while taking dental radiographs. Every time this happens the dentist has to sit the patient down and talk to them about the cause versus effect. While many patients think that they are being over exposed to radiation while having a standard set of x-rays every year, they never take into account the amount of radiation that they are receiving through other devices of by just walking outside. Not many dental providers think of the amount of radiation they are receiving just by working with it every single day. The lack of knowledge that dental providers have about radiation exposure can affect their overall

Cone-beam CT scanners are claimed to be the most “technology safe way to obtain highly detailed images” of people’s mouths. (Aker, 2010) These types of scans are even more controversial for children, due to children being more susceptible to the effects on radiation. These scans can put children at greater risks due to their bodies being smaller than adults, plus their bodies are still in the developing stages. The earlier they are exposed to radiation the more likely to have effects or problems over their lifetime. (Aker, 2010) The concern is the repeat exposure over a lifetime of dental screening not the one single dose exposure. If the cone-beam CT scanner is misused or overused on a single patient let alone a child the much larger the issue to these patients later on in life. The patient can result in later life cancer of thyroid or head, could also result in cells being developed wrong and or even the killing off of oral mucosa cells. Though these scans only minimally increase the risk of cancer, there is still that risk and so dentists, orthodontists, patients, and parents of the children patients, need to ask if these scans

Paradise Hills Medical Center’s radiation department, made a radiation overdose on 22 oncology patients. The error was attributed to a flaw in the radiation equipment

I have always been interested in the medical field. My father is a physiotherapist and my mother has a bachelorette in Microbiology and is a laboratory technologist. I have grown up having science-themed discussions around the dinner table and books lying around the house. With the experience of my parents at their respected professions, I did not have the feeling that these paths were the correct fit for me. I liked the hands on side of physiotherapy but I wanted something more technology related. I searched the medical field for a career that combined my fascination for both human science and technology in addition to being able to interact with patients. My research on Radiation Therapy instantly established a thought that this is a career

Radiation therapy can be used anywhere in the body to treat any kind of cancer. Depending on what type of radiation therapy, it can have some side effects. The most common ones include fatigue, hair loss near the treated area, and skin darkening in the area exposed to a beam of radiation. ("Radiation Therapy for Cancer,” 1) There are also safety concerns that patients have when they are treated with radiation therapy. Many people that receive radiation therapy treatment, worry about exposing family and love ones to radiation, as well as the side effects. Radiation effects on the normal tissues are divided into acute and chronic effects (Schreiber). Acute effects occur during the course of therapy and during the post therapy period (approximately 2-3 weeks after the completion of a course of irradiation) (Schreiber).

Radiation sickness can have huge impacts on an individual’s immune system and the production of blood cell. The gastrointestinal system and bone marrow, where each of these essential systems of the human body are housed, are highly susceptible to radiation sickness. “...the gastrointestinal system and bone marrow are highly sensitive to radiation”(Mayo Clinic Staff 1). Radiation sickness has two main phases. The first phase mostly includes puking and feeling sick, but diarrhea, headache and fever isn’t uncommon. “The initial signs and symptoms of treatable

My patient currently had breast cancer, after receiving radiation therapy. She started to have issues with the quality of saliva production. She is having difficulties with dry mouth, or in other words xerostomia, caused by the radiation therapy given to the head and neck area. It is not uncommon that patients receiving radiation therapy to the head and neck area experience a decrease in saliva flow. Studies have shown that saliva flow during radiation therapy actually increases, due to the salivary glands being irritated by the radiation; however, once treatment has ended the salivary glands are relieved and decrease (OncoLink, 2014). The saliva dramatically decreases leaving the individual with temporary or permanent xerostomia. Enzymes in

Radiation-associated dysphagia (RAD) is a late effect of radiation therapy to the head and neck. Dysphagia is difficulty swallowing. Eighty-six percent of people with late radiation-associated dysphagia are survivors of oropharyngeal cancer, which is commonly caused by human papillomavirus.1 Ninety percent of people with late RAD have evidence of at least partial denervation, leading to atrophying lingual and pharyngeal structures.1 The severity of radiation-associated dysphagia can be minimized by medicine and swallowing therapy.

A potential disadvantage of IMRT is the dose of radiation delivered to the remaining lung, which can lead to a higher risk of pneumonitis, an inflammation of lung tissue. There have been reports of significantly increased toxicity and even death from pneumonitis caused by treatment with IMRT after EPP. A higher mean lung dose and the amount of the lung receiving high doses of IMRT have been associated with a greater risk for lung toxicity. For that reason, strictly adhering to a lower radiation dose for the remaining lung has been paramount to reducing toxicity. Increased experience with the treatment has led to reduced toxicity rates.

Chen uses intensity modulated radiation therapy; better known as the IRMT. With this therapy, Chen has noticed fewer side effects and a better quality of life in his patients (UC Davis research para 2). Chen stated that “with the newer machines using IRMT, physicians are skillfully able to deliver higher doses of radiation to the tumor and lower doses to surrounding normal tissues than ever before” (UC Davis research para 3). Chen goes on to talk about how he turned to the University of Washington Quality of Life instrument survey to get patients’ opinions and feedback of their radiation therapy treatments. One hundred and fifty-five patients were once diagnosed with cancers in the head or neck. Out of those selected patients, 54% of the patients who received therapy from the IRMT paired with an imaging scanner IGRT, said their quality of life improved. 46% of the remaining patients received treatment from a therapy other than the IRMT and were not able to notice any significant gains to their well being (UC Davis research para.4). A news article was written about patient, John Torres, who was diagnosed in 2010 with a tumor mass at the base of his tongue. By the end of John’s last treatment, he had been through a total of 33 radiation treatments with the IRMT (UC Davis research para.6). Five years after

The incidence of radiation injuries is small compared with the number of procedures performed. More than 700,000 interventional procedures are being performed each year (Koenig). Any report that has been made about a skin injury has been reported to the FDA and has been investigated. The reports, usually received contain minimal information regarding the circumstances of the injury. The types of interventional procedures that resulted in reports of skin injuries were: cardiac catheter ablation, catheter placement and shunt placement (Shope). The injuries ranged by erythema to moist desquamation in others and to skin necrosis that required skin grafting.

The spine column is one of the most frequent sites for bone metastases that occur in patients with developed cancer, especially prostate, lung and breast. Intolerable pain is the major symptoms that appear with bone metastasis and severe pain reduces quality of life [1-4]. Treatment of spinal metastases is a multidisciplinary approach involving conventional external beam radiotherapy, surgery, narcotics, bisphosphonates, percutaneous vertebral body augmentation, systemic radionuclides, stereotactic body radiotherapy or a combination of these systemic therapies [5-8]. Systemic radionuclide therapy with suitable radiotracers has some advantages including the ability for pain palliation in multiple sites of bone involvement simultaneously,

The effects of radiation can be hazardous to any part of the human body. In this guide I will explain the advantages, and disadvantages of x-ray radiation. I will also discuss the technological advances that we have today then of what we had the past on the human body during radiation exposure. I will explain preventions of exposure and safety precautions that we as dental assistants as well as patients can follow to stay safe.

In 2007, it is predicted that almost 1.5 million people will be diagnosed with cancer in the United States (Pickle et al., 2007). More than half of these cancer patients will undergo the use of radiation as a means for treating cancer at some point during the course of their disease (Perez and Brady, 1998). Cancer, a disease caused by an uncontrollable growth of abnormal cells, affects millions of people around the world. Radiotherapy is one of the well known various methods used to treat cancer, where high powered rays are aimed directly at the tumor from the outside of the body as external radiation or an instrument is surgically placed inside the body producing a result of internal radiation. Radiation is delivered to the cancerous regions of the body to damage and destroy the cells in that area, terminating the rapid growth and division of the cells. Radiation therapy has been used by medicine as a treatment for cancer from the beginning of the twentieth century, with its earliest beginnings coming from the discovery of x-rays in 1895 by Wilhelm Röntgen. With the advancements in physics and computer programming, radiation had greatly evolved towards the end of the twentieth century and made the radiation treatment more effective. Radiation therapy is a curative treatment approach for cancer because it is successful in killing cancerous tumor cells and stop them from regenerating.

Results of the present study also showed that whole body gamma irradiation at 6.5Gy evoked a sharp increase in glucose level and decrease in Mg kidney content. Hyperglycemia has been found post irradiation due to minimized utilization of glucose by injured tissues as well as acceleration of gluconeogenesis which is indirect result of irradiation (Abdel-Salam et al. 2006). The hypomagnesaemia may be due to insufficient renal function or excess release through damaged cells post irradiation (Kotb et al. 1990).