ON THE PROBLEM OF THE SPECIFIC BIOLOGICAL EFFECTIVENESS OF SOFT RADIATION AS A FUNCTION OF THE INHOMOGENEITY OF DOSE DISTRIBUTION IN TISSUE

Journal Article · Wed Oct 10 04:00:00 EDT 1962 · Radiologe (West Germany)

OSTI ID:4106346

Gahlen, W

The relation between the dose and the biological reaction, the relative biological effectiveness (RBE), is proportional to the tissue homogeneity. For soft x radiation the greater the spatial inhomogeneity, the greater the RBE is increased. Differential analysis of the depth dose curves for soft radiations in tissues permits some conclusions to be drawn about the degree of homogeneity of the radiation that passes through, but not to what extent the particular degree of homogeneity exerts a biological reaction. The degree of homogeneity does not indicate any unit of absorption or any amount of energy absorbed from any source, which as such necessarily must alter biological reactions. This is especially true for instances of marked inhomogeneity. Prior absorption will determine the particular depth dose. In skin tissue it is probably not significant that soft radiation with a pronounced energy transfer produces a greater biological effect in microvolumes than an exposure to the same dose of hard x radiation produces. There is no experimental indication that the biological effectivity of soft radiations is not proportional to the dose distribution in tissue. (BBB)

• Research Organization: Staedtische Hautklinik, Aachen
• NSA Number: NSA-18-011786
• OSTI ID: 4106346
• Journal Information: Radiologe (West Germany), Journal Name: Radiologe (West Germany) Vol. Vol: 2; ISSN RDLGB
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: German

Related Subjects

ABSORPTION
BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
DISTRIBUTION
RADIATION DOSES
RADIATION EFFECTS
RADIOBIOLOGY
SKIN
TISSUES
X RADIATION