Fractionation of Dose
If an intentional dose is broken up into a number of smaller doses, with time allowed for recovery between irradiations, the same total dose causes less cell death. Even without interruptions, a reduction in dose rate below 0.1 Gy/h also tends to reduce cell death. This technique is routinely used in radiotherapy.
The human body contains many types of cells and a human can be killed by the loss of a single type of cells in a vital organ. For many short term radiation deaths (3 days to 30 days), the loss of two important types of cells that are constantly being regenerated causes death. The loss of cells forming blood cells (bone marrow) and the cells in the digestive system (microvilli which form part of the wall of the intestines) is fatal.
Read more about this topic: Acute Radiation Syndrome, Prevention
Famous quotes containing the word dose:
“Whipping and abuse are like laudanum: you have to double the dose as the sensibilities decline.”
—Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896)