ipl-logo

Diagnostic X-Ray Exposure

768 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Diagnostic imaging quizzlet

Radiographers should always apply the As Low As Reasonably Achievable or ALARA principle when undertaking a medical X-ray exposure. There are evidences that demonstrate that diagnostic X-ray procedures have the ability to induce cancer and genetic effects, although the risk is known to be very low. Hence, it is the responsibility of radiographers to always ensure to minimise this risk by minimising the radiation dose to the patient, ultimately producing the best diagnostic image and delivering the highest quality of care.

Stochastic effects are those that occur by chance and are mainly related to cancer or genetic effects as a result of DNA disruption. For stochastic effects, there is no threshold dose, therefore for any amount of radiation …show more content…

Thus, when you double the dose, the risk of inducing cancer is doubled. There is a linear relationship as risk of stochastic effects is proportional to the dose, which is expressed in the Linear No Threshold Model. However, the severity of the effects does not increase with dose as the patient will either develop cancer or not.

Additionally, in stochastic effects there is also some risk from background radiation. In some instances, even without exposure to radiation above the background levels, stochastic effects can still occur in individuals. Hence, it can never be determined for certain that an occurrence of cancer or genetic damage was due to a specific exposure.

The Linear No Threshold Model is a model used in establishing radiation protection regulations as it hypothesizes the response of cancer to ionising radiation such as X-rays. The model suggests that cancer risk is directly proportional to absorbed dose (energy absorbed per unit mass of material subject to ionising radiation) and the risk will only be nothing at zero dose. The Linear No Treshold Model concludes that there is no level of radiation that is completely safe and consequently radiation exposure must be reduced until it is as low as reasonably …show more content…

The study of Pearce et. al in 2012 looked into the risk of developing leukemia and brain tumours in pediatric CT by studying 280,000 CT scans between 1985-2002 of individuals under 22 in the United Kingdom. The results showed that there were significant linear associations between the risks of developing cancer after radiation dose to the brain with the probability of less than .001 and between the risk of developing leukemia after radiation dose to the bone marrow with the probability of .01. Hence, the results suggest the risks were small but they were undoubtly present in 1 case per 10,000 individuals. Pearce et al. have demonstrated that CT scans produce a small cancer risk and the diagnostic procedure should be clinically justified. We have to make sure that the benefits of CT scan such as better surgery, better diagnosis and treatment of cancer outweighs the risk of inducing

Show More
Related

Nuclear Medicine: Nt1310 Unit 9 Final Paper

933 Words | 4 Pages

Too much exposure to ionizing radiation can damage the tissues. Children, young women and fetus are more sensitive to this type of radiation than others (Fahey, 2012). • Maintaining the Highest Level of Safety with NM Workers in nuclear medicine should follow safety rules. While working with radioactive materials, personal protective equipment like gloves, protective eye wear and cloths and in some cases fume hoods must be used. NM procedures must be practiced in special closed places.

Read More

Radiologic Technologist Research Paper

1159 Words | 5 Pages

Radiologic Technologist: The Image behind the X-Rays As people wait in the waiting room, they hear the screams of a little boy coming in with his father carrying him. The father rushes in to the emergency room shouting that his little boy has a broken leg and is in very much pain. The nurses sprinted to the little boy and took him to a room with a bed as fast as they could. After the nurses did everything possible to calm the little boy, the doctor came in and made sure the father was aware of what was going to happen. They nurses came in and notified him that they need to take images to see the damage.

Read More

There Will Come Soft Rains Essay

1062 Words | 5 Pages

This highlights the variability of natural radiation levels across different regions and the importance of considering this factor in establishing safe dose limits. Despite these elevated levels, nature continues to operate as usual. This consistent pattern

Read More

Angelique Van Eeden Case Study

1257 Words | 6 Pages

>40yrs old. - Clinical results follow after 1 month - Dose of 80 micro cu per gram of gland. o Complications of radiotherapy: - 20% of patients develop hypothyroidism that may resolve over 10 years - Malignant changes in the thyroid are theoretically possible but have never been

Read More

Indoor Tanning Beds

1899 Words | 8 Pages

Public Health Problem Radiation is described as energy that is commonly found in x-rays, nuclear power plants, radioactive materials, sunlight, and in many more sources according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, 2015). It can be used as a tool to diagnose and treat diseases. Although there are benefits of radiation, great exposure to radiation is a concern that may be linked to mutations, health problems, and even cancer. This is a problem in today’s society due to the social norms that influence the youth on beauty standards, which can lead to different forms of health issues.

Read More

Diagnostic Medicine: Radioisotope

977 Words | 4 Pages

The most used radioisotope in medicine is technetium-99m, employed in some 80% of all nuclear medicine procedures. It is an isotope of the artificially-produced element technetium and it has ideal characteristics for a nuclear medicine scan. It has a half-life of six hours which is long enough to examine metabolic processes but short enough to minimize the radiation dose. It decays by isomericly which emits gamma rays and low energy electrons. The low energy gamma rays it emits easily escape the human body and are accurately detected by a gamma camera.

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of The International Space Station

130 Words | 1 Pages

To illustrate this point look towards a lightweight laptop compared to one from a decade or two ago. Yes it is much lighter (a plus for space travel) but it automatically is assumed to have less protection from radiation that our atmosphere protects us from. When compared to

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of Medical Advancements

816 Words | 4 Pages

Patients undergoing radiation therapy can be exposed to strong levels of radiation if error occurs. B. Medical technology raises the costs of health care and makes it harder for lower class families to afford access to good health care. In addition, medical technology can often give widespread and vague results which can lead to unneeded testing, for which patients still have to pay. Medical procedures have high risk rates. If one thing goes wrong during the procedure it can have a negative long term effect on the patent.

Read More

Radiotherapy Affects Society

224 Words | 1 Pages

Radiotherapy negatively affects society in many different ways. One way is the fact that the use of radiotherapy may result with the side effects of a change in appearance. This includes bruises and reddening of the skin. This may result in the patients not being comfortable with themselves as they stand out against the rest of society and they might look at this in a negative perspective. Patients start becoming self-conscious about themselves, so they don’t go out as often and they socialize less.

Read More

MD Anderson Personal Statement

918 Words | 4 Pages

Radiomics lies at the juncture of what I believe to be extremely exciting science in the coming future of personalized medicine. This is what prompted me to approach Dr. Rivka Colen (desired mentor), of the Department of Diagnostic Radiology, to conduct research in her lab. An interplay between research and clinical treatment such as the way Dr. Colen implements will be one of the grounds that I intend to structure my own practice around. The MD Anderson 1st Year Medical Student Program would help me achieve the first steps towards conducting research in my career as a physician-scientist.

Read More

The Benefits Of Nuclear Science

921 Words | 4 Pages

“Disease is a biological process, and nuclear medicine provides images of these biological processes. Most radiotracers interact with a biological process and emit low levels of radiation. Highly sensitive detector systems collect these energy signals, and computer programs reconstruct them into diagnostic images. Because it provides images of a biological process (physiology), nuclear medicine differs from other imaging techniques—such as x-rays, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and ultrasound—which primarily visualize structure and shape (anatomy)(U.S. Department Converting Energy to Medicine). " Studies done on people with family histories of Huntington’s disease used brain scans to figure out that certain members will have it in the future, years before any of the outward signs have appeared.

Read More

Electromagnetic Periods

618 Words | 3 Pages

Non-ionising is found at the end of a long wavelength where as ionising radiation is found at shorter wavelength. Regions of the spectrum: • Gamma radiation- ionizing • X-ray radiation- ionizing • Ultraviolet radiation- non-ionizing • Infrared radiation- non-ionizing • Microwave radiation- non-ionizing • Radio waves- non-ionizing 3- A) Lethal Dose Effects 5-20 Possible late effects; possible chromosomal damage 20-100 Temporary reduction in white blood cells 100-200 Mild radiation sickness within a few hours:

Read More

Reasonably Achievable Equation

1324 Words | 6 Pages

RADIATION PROTECTION Introduction; 4.1. ALARA: “As Low As Reasonably Achievable” The application of radiation can aid the patient by providing doctors and other health care professionals with a medical diagnosis, but the exposure should be responsibly low enough to keep the statistical probability of cancers or sarcomas (stochastic effects ) below an acceptable level, and to eliminate deterministic effects(e.g. skin reddening or cataracts )

Read More

Clinical Negligence In Medical Practice

1947 Words | 8 Pages

As it has already been discussed in this paper, physicians are responsible for any clinical negligence that may cause harm or injury to the patient. In many journal studies researching radiology, various field cases have been identified and studied. They have shown that radiologists who have not been very often accused of clinical negligence have become in trouble. The errors committed while conducting their radiological work are sometimes caused by their lack of experience or out of their care. But in both cases, they are held to be liable and patients may file lawsuits against

Read More

Probabilistic Risk Assessment

702 Words | 3 Pages

Core damage accidents are viewed serious because harm to the core may avoid control of the nuclear reaction, which can prompt a nuclear meltdown. • Large Early Release Frequency(LERF) It is defined as the recurrence of those accidents leading to important releases from containment in a time frame before effective evacuation of the close-in population such that there is a potential for early health impacts. Such accidents generally involve un-scrubbed releases connected with early containment failure at or shortly after vessel breach, containment bypass events, and loss of containment isolation.

Read More

More about Diagnostic X-Ray Exposure

Related Topics

Open Document