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Late neoplastic changes following medical irradiation
Author(s) -
Hutchison George B.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(197602)37:2+<1102::aid-cncr2820370819>3.0.co;2-q
Subject(s) - medicine , nuclear medicine , radiobiology , dose fractionation , irradiation , cancer , dose–response relationship , dose rate , cancer incidence , toxicology , radiation therapy , biology , medical physics , physics , nuclear physics
New additions since 1968 to the literature on radiation carcinogenesis in man support the earlier conclusion of an approximately linear increase in cancer incidence in a broad intermediate dose range for most sites of cancer. Questions are raised regarding the nature of the dose‐response relation at very low and at very high dose exposures. Analyses of some data on exposure to radiation from internal deposits of radioactive material suggest that the dose‐response curve at low and intermediate ranges is concave up, implying a smaller effect per unit exposure at very low doses than at intermediate ranges. Data on exposure to the very high but anatomically limited doses of radiation used in cancer therapy give conflicting results, suggesting in one report a continuation of the linear relation into the high‐dose range. Other reports suggest a lesser effect per unit dose at high doses than at intermediate doses. Extensive laboratory studies of exposure of experimental animals indicate that over broad dose ranges, exceptions to simple linear relations are the rule, and that factors of dose rate and fractionation also affect the dose‐response relation.