Radium dangers?

MikeKenn

is there any danger of passive radiation form someone who has recieved treatment, should you limit contact for a few hours with children after treatment?
thanks in advance

lonestargirl

For anyone who is having external beam radiation treatment (where you lie on a bed and the machines rotates around delivering radiation from a number of different angles) there is no radiation risk at all. The machine is just an x-ray machine with higher energy than a standard diagnostic x-ray. The vast majority of people having radiation for treatment of cancer have external bean radiation therapy.

Some people (for example: many thyroid patients) have nuclear medicine treatment which involves injecting a radioactive isotope into the patient. These patients emit radiation for a number of days post-treatment which is why these patients are kept in isolation for 3-4 days post-treatment. If you (or your relative) is undergoing this treatment you will be given detailed instructions about contact with children etc.


Side Note: Radium hasn't been used to treat cancer since the 1930s. Therapeutic radiation is generated using high energy x-ray machines or other radioactive sources (e.g. Cobalt)

drzhivago

MikeKenn wrote: »

is there any danger of passive radiation form someone who has recieved treatment, should you limit contact for a few hours with children after treatment?
thanks in advance

should really discuss this with the person having treatment as they will have been given advice by the treating physicians