Is Radiotherapy Hazardous?

There is an opinion among patients: 

“After completing radiation therapy/computer tomography it is prohibited to stay in the same room with other people” ➡️ INCORRECT

ℹ️ Both during X-ray diagnostic examinations (radiography, radioscopy, CT with or without contrasting) and during radiation therapy, a patient receives a certain, radiation load compliant with the methodology but does not become a source of radiation for others.

In addition, the level of radiation load on a patient is conditioned by radiation type: X-rays in diagnostic examinations and photons and electrons in radiation therapy.

😃 After these procedures, the patient is safe for others, including children. 

Another situation is when open isotopes are used.

These research methods include scanning of bones, lymph nodes, thyroid gland, liver, and kidneys.

ℹ️ When these methods of research and treatment are used, a certain dose of radioactive substances is put into the human body, which stay there for a certain period. Thus, a patient becomes a radiation source for a certain period.

The half-life for radioactive substances in the body is determined by isotope half-life (for example, the process lasts for 6 hours during bone scanning).

😃 In such cases, the patient is instructed and receives recommendations regarding diagnostic or therapeutic procedures with open isotopes.

The information was prepared by head of the Research Department of Nuclear Medicine with the X-ray and Angiography Sector of the National Cancer Institute, ScD, prof. O.Solodyannykova.