Radiation in Medicine A Need for Regulatory Reform (1996) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Appendix C: Glossary
Appendix C: Glossary
Pages 192-200
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 192... ...
Background radiation is naturally occurring radioactivity and radiation caused by cosmic rays.
|
From page 193... ...
Chain reaction denotes any process in which some of the reaction products become reaction raw materials. In particular, nuclear reactors consume and produce neutrons simultaneously as nuclei fission in a chain reaction.
|
From page 194... ...
It is a generic term encompassing absorbed dose, dose equivalent, effective dose equivalent, committed dose equivalent, committed effective dose equivalent, or total effective dose equivalent.
|
From page 195... ...
. This radiation comes from natural sources, such as cosmic radiation or naturally occurring elements such as radium, uranium, thorium, and radon.
|
From page 196... ...
naturally occurring and accelerator-produced radioactive materials, and (3) x-ray machines and particle accelerators.
|
From page 197... ...
Nuclear reactor is a device in which a nuclear fission reaction may be selfsustaining. In medicine, nuclear reactors may be used to create radioactive materials for administration to patients for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes and to produce teletherapy sources.
|
From page 198... ...
Palliative radiation therapy means the use of radiation to contribute to a patient's comfort and decrease pain, but not necessarily to prolong life or "cure" a disease. Particle accelerators produce accelerated charged particles that range from electrons to heavy protons and ions such as carbon and argon.
|
From page 199... ...
Radiopharmaceuticals may be made in a user's laboratory by combining radioactive materials with nonradioactive kits or by cyclotron production and subsequent formulation of materials with short half-lives; radiopharmaceuticals may also be purchased from commercial radiopharmacies or manufacturers. Radiosensitivity means that some cells are relatively more sensitive to radiation than others.
|
From page 200... ...
After being attenuated by passing through an object such as a patient, x-rays are detected by a screen-film combination inside a cassette or by a fluorescent screen in an image-intensifier tube. The screen-film combination yields a film for diagnosis by a physician; the image-intensifier tube signal is fed into a video system for immediate viewing, as in fluoroscope.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.