Proton radiation is one of the many ways to remedy the deadly disease kenned as Cancer. The other way, however, is conventional radiation. I feel proton radiation is more effective and less hazardous than conventional radiation.
There are countless reasons why I feel the way I do.
However, if you choose conventional radiation, it will most likely cause solemn health issues down the road from treatment. Other very deadly cancers can develop, and the original cancer could come back at any time. With Proton radiation, the pristine cancer has a minutely minuscule chance of returning. Conventional radiation takes a very considerable deal of time, almost 1 year, to consummate. But, Proton radiation is much shorter, at just 5-6 months.
In integration to my other reasons, I feel that Proton radiation is more effective and less hazardous than conventional radiation in another way as well. Mortality rates for Proton radiation is extremely low, while the rate of mortalities for conventional radiation is about average.
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Proton radiation is further effective and less dangerous than conventional
According to Helibron and Seidel (2011) nuclear medicine began as a simple experiment in the early twentieth century by George de Hevesy. De Hevesy started the experiment by deciding to test the effects of radiation on living things, beginning with bean plants, then onto furred animals, and then continued onto finding the effects of radiation on the human body, when he did this he became the first person to ever use radiation on a human being. He along with his partner E. Hofer, in 1931, consumed Deuterium which they had diluted with tea and found that traces of radioactivity stayed within their bodies for between eight to eighteen days. This was the first known use of radiation on humans (p. 1). This was just the beginning though, as time moved on the use of nuclear energy advanced and as it advanced it began to bleed into more subjects than those that it had been used in before, such as, nuclear medicine. Although it has its drawbacks, such as nuclear waste, there are many different benefits to nuclear medicine. Examples of such would be advances in therapy and treatment of disease...
...e level for the high dose radiotherapy protocol. Also, the observations shows that patients that survive the treatments should be watched over a longer follow-up time [5].
There are essentially three main types of cancer treatments; surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Surgery allows doctors to effectively remove tumors from a clear plane. Chemotherapy uses drugs to treat the tumor; but often the drugs affect other healthy cells in the process. Using radiation as a treatment can be either precise or vague. Many health stigmas can come from the vague forms of radiation or conventional radiation therapy. Conventional radiation treats both the unhealthy and healthy cells, therefore exposing healthy cells to harmful radiation (Radiation Oncology, 2011, p.6). When healthy cells are exposed to gamma radiation they are also exposed to ionizing radiation. The ionization can cause “breakage of chemical bonds or oxidization (addition of oxygen atoms)” in a cell; the main impact of this is on a cell’s DNA, if two strands of DNA break it can result in “mutations, chromosome aberrations, ...
Radiation therapy is a growing field that has not been around very long. This field works with patients that have many different types of cancer ranging from leukemia, lung cancer, prostate cancer, cervical cancer, and brain cancer among others. Cancer can be effectively treated using surgical, chemical and radiation treatment or a combination of the three. Many advantages and disadvantages have emerged when considering the use of radiation therapy and these pros and cons should be discussed thoroughly between the Oncologist and patient before a decision has been made on a course of action. Special licensing is required to enter this specialized field of radiation therapy and can be obtained through special programs.
“External radiation uses a machine that directs high-energy rays from outside the body into the tumor and some normal nearby tissue.” (American Cancer Society p. 5) After this treatment the patient will not be radioactive, but treatment is delivered in small doses and can last several weeks. “Internal radiation or brachytherapy, uses a radioactive source, called an implant, that’s put inside the body in or near the tumor.” (American Cancer Society p. 9) It may be placed in an organ or in the cancerous tumor. The patient will be radioactive for a short time. Due to the implant being near the source of cancer a larger dose can be delivered to the patient. “Systemic radiation uses radioactive drugs to treat certain type of cancer.” (American Cancer Society p. 12) The drugs used are called radiopharmaceuticals and can be delivered orally or intravenously. “They collect where the cancer is to give off their radiation and kill the cancer cells.” (American Cancer Society p. 12) After this treatment the patient will be radioactive, and will take a few days to be removed from the patients
Whether doctors solely use radiation therapy or use a combination of treatments, radiotherapy has been notoriously helpful in increasing the lifespan of many individuals worldwide.
Without this simple device, many lives would have been lost to fires. Along with smoke detectors, nuclear technology is also used in the wide world of medicine. Chemotherapy is one of the leading ways to combat cancer growth and is helping to extend the lives, and even curing, patients everywhere. While radiation in food production may at first sound like an off-putting idea, radiation is already being used to better grow the world’s farming capabilities by expanding many countries crop outputs. Nuclear technology is everywhere, and that is not a bad
There are ways to better understand how radiation affects the body when compared to other every day activities. If an occupational worker receives 1 rem per year then is it possible that 51 days is expected to be lost. A person that smokes 20 cigarettes a day takes about 6 years off of their life. People that are overweight by 15% take about 2 years off of their life. In actuality radiation would seem as though it is not any more harmful than other everyday activities people decide to do such as smoke, chew tobacco, or sky dive. The risk of taking days, weeks, years off of ones lives will always be present depending on the activity they choose to be part of. However, radiation exposure in the healthcare field is used to extend the patient’s life by helping them find out what is going on in their body. A patient that comes in with RLQ pain, nausea, and vomiting then an abdomen x-r...
...b done but can bring more side effects to the patient. Radiation is a connection to physics, which was a very important important discovery in science because it has cured many patients who have been affected by cancer when before they were left to die. Radiation therapy, like any other way exposed to radiation, can be a risk. The importance of undergoing this treatment is to see the positive side of it, not just think of the bad things that can come out of the radiation therapy. There is a risk of second cancers but isn’t it worth it? This treatment gives patients the chance to live a longer and normal life, this wasn’t an option before, so it’s important to be thankful for being born in this time period. Radiation might not be seen as a good thing in many occasions but it is now used for the good of the people affected by cancer, it’s a second chance for life.
Radiation exposure can affect children as well an children have the risk of being the most harmfully effected by radiation because their body absorbs substances differently also their bodies can or are more likely to get certain kinds of cancers from too much exposure, “they are also closer to the ground, where radioactive fallouts settle.”
Nuclear Medicine is the use of radioisotopes for diagnosis, treatment, and research. Radioactive chemical tracers emit gamma rays which provides diagnostic information about a person's anatomy and the functioning of specific organs. Radioisotopes are also utilizes in treatments of diseases such as cancer. It is estimated that approximately one in two people in Western countries are likely to experience the benefits of nuclear medicine in their lifetime.
Radiation therapists work closely with patients to fight cancer. According to Health Care Careers, Oncologists, Dosimetrists and nurses are some of the professionals that a radiation therapist works with while caring for a cancer patient. This group of professionals will determine a specialized treatment plan. The first step usually includes a CT scan performed by a radiologist to find the exact area that needs to be targeted with x-rays. Next, the therapist uses a special machine that emits radiation called a Linear Accelerator. They use this machine during a treatment called external beam therapy. During this process, the Linear Accelerator will project x-rays at targeted cancer cells or tumors. Another therapist will be in a different room monitoring the patient’s viral signs until the procedure is over. The external therapy l...
In order for a radiological attack to kill or sicken mass amounts of people would require a very large weapon with highly radioactive material. Although producing a radiological weapon is much easier than building a nuclear weapon, fabricating a very highly effective radiological dispersal device that could be transported to a particular location is very difficult. One of the problems in building a large device is the heavy shielding necessary to work with a significant amount of radioactive material. Otherwise, it would melt the container carrying the radiological material and sicken or kill anyone who is attempting to put together or transport the weapon.
The energy in ionizing radiation can cause chemical changes in the the cells that can lead to damaging them. Most of the cells can either permanently or temporarily become abnormal or they can just die. Radiation can cause cancer by damaging the DNA in the body. The damage of the cells can also depend on how long the organs are exposed (environmental protection agency, 2017, unknown). If someone has many exposures at one time that radiation in the body keeps adding on. As well as if its only a little bit of exposure in on day and years later you get exposed again it keeps adding on the radiation will never leave the body. Having radiation in your body doesn’t affect you right away but as you get older it starts to show and you feel it. Chronic exposure is when someone is exposed many time for long periods. When this happens the type of effects it will carry is having harmful generic change, cancer, tumors, and even cataracts. Partial health effects can also depend on if it was internal or external exposure. Internal exposure is when either by drinking, breathing, eating and even an injection cause radiation to get inside your body. External exposure is when taking an x-ray out of your body and letting it go through letting all the energy go as it goes in (environmental protection agency, 2017, unknown). In the dental world radiation gets into the patients when we take x-rays on there teeth. In order to avoid to much radiation on them we put a lead apron on them and make sure to cover their thyroid which is the most common way of getting cancer when taking an x-ray. When we take the x-ray we stand behind a wall at least 6 feet away to avoid ourself from getting
One of the greatest events of twentieth century was the use of radioisotope as a source of energy and as medical and industrial tools. Using radioactivity has been a global issue owing to its very nature. When it is used for peaceful purposes, it is a triumph of science because it can solve energy problems in the form of nuclear energy but the side effects in the form of harmful radiation and harmful radioactive waste is the real limitations of science. This essay will attempt to analyze the application of science in the use of radioactivity and radioactive isotopes and how science is not so effective in dealing with the side effects.