Radiation Injuries - Classification And Prevention

2024 Author: Rachel Wainwright | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 07:39

Radiation damage

Radiation injury is tissue damage caused by exposure to ionizing radiation. The term "ionizing radiation" means high energy waves emitted by artificial or natural sources, which have the ability to penetrate and ionize objects in the environment. Radiation-induced tissue damage can be caused by short-term (single) or long-term exposure.

Radiation injuries can be the result of radiation therapy, in which not only the affected, but also some of the healthy tissues are exposed. Under the influence of radiation, a pathological process develops in the body. If the dose was tolerated, it regresses on its own, leaving only mild traces of sclerosis and tissue atrophy (local reaction to radiation). In case of exceeding the permissible exposure doses, radiation injuries of an irreversible nature occur. The damage is based on vascular obliteration, sclerosis, degeneration of nerve fibers and endings, tissue atrophy with replacement by hyalinized connective tissue.

Classification of radiation injuries

Radioactive radiation can cause two types of radiation injuries: acute and chronic.

Acute (immediate) radiation injuries have two clinical forms:

• Acute radiation sickness. It is characterized by external beta and gamma neutron irradiation;
• Acute local radiation injuries. Caused by contact (exposure to radiation exposure to clothing, skin, mucous membranes).

Chronic radiation injuries manifest themselves in the form of chronic radiation sickness and arise as a result of prolonged external or internal radiation. The severity of chronic radiation injuries is determined by the total dose of radiation, as well as by the physiological characteristics of a particular organ.

Typical manifestations of chronic radiation sickness are regional circulatory disorders in the extremities, skin, brain, manifested in the form of headaches, weakness, chilliness in the extremities, neurological symptoms, changes in cardiac activity, digestive tract, asthenic syndrome.

One of the most common forms of local radiation injury is radiation dermatitis. The reason for its occurrence is the uneven radiation exposure during accidents at nuclear plants, explosions of ammunition, and in domestic conditions - X-ray therapy of tumor and non-tumor diseases. Frequent localization of local radiation injuries are fingers, hands, face, front of the thighs.

Radiation skin lesions

The classification of radiation injuries of the skin can also be divided into acute and chronic.

Acute radiation injuries of the skin are diseases such as:

• Early radiation reaction (it is edematous erythema accompanied by slight itching and develops 1-2 days after irradiation with a dose of at least 3 Gy);
• Radiation alopecia. It is accompanied by the loss of long hair two to four weeks after irradiation with a dose of at least 3.75 Gy;
• Acute radiation dermatitis. Appears within 2 months from the date of exposure. The erythematous form of the lesion is observed at a dose of 8-12 Gy, differing from other dermatitis in the purplish-cyanotic color of the skin, a feeling of pain, itching, hair loss;
• Acute bullous dermatitis. It is characterized by a dosage of radiation of at least 12-20 Gy, accompanied by an increase in body temperature, pronounced pain and burning sensation. Healing of erosions after blistering occurs slowly and is accompanied by a violation of pigmentation, the development of atrophy, telangiectasias;
• Acute necrotizing dermatitis develops after irradiation with a dosage of over 25 Gy and is accompanied by excruciating pain, chills, high fever, and weakness. Skin lesions are presented in the form of edema, erythema, blisters, after opening which long-term non-healing ulcers appear. When wounds heal, scars are formed, minor trauma to which can lead to tissue necrosis.

Chronic radiation injuries of the skin, in turn, are subdivided into:

• Chronic radiation dermatitis developing at the site of acute dermatitis. The disease is clinically manifested by skin atrophy, dryness, the formation of painful cracks, against which the appearance of papillomatosis and hyperkeratosis is possible.
• Late radiation dermatosis (in the form of indurative edema, late radiation ulcer, radiation cancer).

Inductive edema occurs as a result of damage to small lymphatic vessels and, as a result, a violation of lymph outflow. The clinical manifestation is dense edema without any painful sensations, with the resolution of which telangiectasia and tissue atrophy remain.

Against the background of trophic changes in the skin, a late radiation ulcer is formed, characterized by severe painful sensations. In the course of long-term existence of radiation ulcers, such an intractable disease as radiation cancer can develop.

Prevention of radiation injuries

The drugs that carry out the prevention of radiation damage include pharmacological drugs that reduce the severity of the manifestation of radiation damage to the body. They include drugs that increase the body's radioresistance, radioprotectors, anti-radiation drugs, drugs that can stop (prevent) the manifestation of the primary reaction to radiation exposure.

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The information is generalized and provided for informational purposes only. At the first sign of illness, see your doctor. Self-medication is hazardous to health!