Radiation Injury

radiation injury

Tissue damage caused by exposure to ionizing radiation. Structures with rapid cell turnover (e.g., skin, stomach or intestinal lining, and bone marrow) are most susceptible. High-dose irradiation of the last two causes radiation sickness. Nausea and vomiting subside in a few hours. They are followed in intestinal cases by abdominal pain, fever, and diarrhea leading to dehydration and a fatal shocklike state, and in bone-marrow cases (two to three weeks later) by fever, weakness, hair loss, infection, and hemorrhage. In severe cases, death occurs from infection and uncontrollable bleeding. Lower radiation doses can cause cancer (notably leukemia and breast cancer), sometimes years later. Radiation exposure in early pregnancy can produce abnormalities in the embryo, whose cells are multiplying rapidly.

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Radiation Injury 

an injury, caused by ionizing radiation and some kinds of nonionizing electromagnetic radiation (infrared, ultraviolet), that is strictly confined to a given organ, tissue, or system.

The term “radiation injury” generally refers to local injury resulting from the biological effect of ionizing radiation. Wide-spread injury from ionizing radiation that is accompanied by systemic disturbances gives rise to radiation sickness. Injury from infrared radiation is caused by thermal action and is manifested by thermal burns and overheating. Ultraviolet radiation has a mainly chemical effect. Radiation injury from light beams emitted by lasers is characterized principally by burns of the retina and skin.