EYE STRAIN AND EYE PROTECTION DURING IRRADIATION THERAPY AND DIAGNOSIS

Journal Article · Tue Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1963 · Radiographica

OSTI ID:4078117

Krokowski, E

Sensitivity of various components of the eye is surveyed and means for preventing injury to them discussed. Pertinent experiments by the author on rabbits are described. The lens is the most radiation-sensitive part of the eye; two dependent changes take place after irradiation: clouding, and weight alterations of the lens. Cataract starts as a clouding of the posterior commissure, extends into the capsule, and it high doses there may- be clouding of the entire lens. Once clouding of the lens has begun it does not disappear. The threshold dose producing cataracts in young animals is about 200 r. Weight alterations of the lens, due to changes in water content or possibly growth inhibition or destructive changes, appear at doses far below those needed to produce clouding. The threshold dose for clouding of the cornea is about 10 times that for the lens. Doses in excess of 2000 r result in corneal clouding in 70% of the cases, but are reversible. The conjunctiva is also relatively insensitive to irradiation. When the eyes of young animals are irradiated, development of the whole eye is retarded. A 12% reduction in the weight of the eye follows absorption of 1000 rad, and this rises to 40% at 2000 rad. The RBE of different forms of radiation on damage to the lens is tabulated. Effects of radiation on the eye vary directly with the dose absorbed, and inversely with the age of the animal at the time or irradiation, both of which reduce the time of onset and intensity of manifestations. Age determines both the latent period before onset of symptoms, and the time to develop full damage. Radiation injury occurs in four stages that are identified. Any necessary xray examinations of the eye may be undertaken and repeated when required, without fear of complications, as no methods of x-ray diagnosis give a surface dose approaching 200 r, but caution is required in therapeutic irradiation of the head region. The radiation dose at the lens during treatment of tumors of the antra, orbits, nasopharynx and palate, and of the brain show that the threshold dose for irradiation cataract is exceeded by some methods. Also discussed is the extent to which the eyes of a radiologist in a diagnostic department are endangered by radiation exposure. (BBB)

• Research Organization: Freie Universitat, Berlin
• NSA Number: NSA-18-015944
• OSTI ID: 4078117
• Journal Information: Radiographica, Journal Name: Radiographica Vol. Vol: No. 7
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: English

Related Subjects

AGE
BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
BRAIN
DIAGNOSIS
EYES
PERSONNEL
QUANTITY RATIO
RABBITS
RADIATION DOSES
RADIATION EFFECTS
RADIATION INJURIES
RADIATION PROTECTION
RADIOGRAPHY
RADIOSENSITIVITY
RADIOTHERAPY
TABLES
TISSUES
TUMORS
WATER
X RADIATION