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Acute radiation syndrome (ARS), also known as radiation sickness or radiation poisoning, is a collection of health effects that are caused by being exposed to high amounts of ionizing radiation in a short period of time. [1] Symptoms can start within an hour of exposure, and can last for several months.
Severe side effects may include low blood pressure with standing, an irregular heart beat, and priapism. [2] [3] It is a selective α 1-adrenergic blocker in the quinazoline class of compounds. [2] Doxazosin was patented in 1977 and came into medical use in 1988. [4] It is available as a generic medication. [3]
The risk of systemic infection is higher when the organism has a combined injury, such as a conventional blast, thermal burn, [3] or radiation burn. [2] There is a direct quantitative relationship between the magnitude of the neutropenia that develops after exposure to radiation and the increased risk of developing infection. Because no ...
Side effects are dose-dependent; for example, higher doses of head and neck radiation can be associated with cardiovascular complications, thyroid dysfunction, and pituitary axis dysfunction. [15] Modern radiation therapy aims to reduce side effects to a minimum and to help the patient understand and deal with side effects that are unavoidable.
It is distinct from acute radiation syndrome, in that it occurs at dose rates low enough to permit natural repair mechanisms to compete with the radiation damage during the exposure period. Dose rates high enough to cause the acute form (> ~0.1 Gy/h) are fatal long before onset of the chronic form.
Radiation-induced lung injury (RILI) is a general term for damage to the lungs as a result of exposure to ionizing radiation. [1] In general terms, such damage is divided into early inflammatory damage ( radiation pneumonitis ) and later complications of chronic scarring ( radiation fibrosis ).
Dose fractionation effects are utilised in the treatment of cancer with radiation therapy. When the total dose of radiation is divided into several, smaller doses over a period of several days, there are fewer toxic effects on healthy cells. This maximizes the effect of radiation on cancer and minimizes the negative side effects. A typical ...
Recognized effects of higher acute radiation doses are described in more detail in the article on radiation poisoning.Although the International System of Units (SI) defines the sievert (Sv) as the unit of radiation dose equivalent, chronic radiation levels and standards are still often given in units of millirems (mrem), where 1 mrem equals 1/1,000 of a rem and 1 rem equals 0.01 Sv.