Damage to skin or biological tissue from radiation exposure
Medical condition
Radiation burn
Other names
Radiodermatitis
Ionizing radiation burn: large red patches of skin on the back and arm from multiple prolonged fluoroscopy procedures
Specialty
Dermatology
A radiation burn is a damage to the skin or other biological tissue and organs as an effect of radiation. The radiation types of greatest concern are thermal radiation, radio frequency energy, ultraviolet light and ionizing radiation.
The most common type of radiation burn is a sunburn caused by UV radiation. High exposure to X-rays during diagnostic medical imaging or radiotherapy can also result in radiation burns. As the ionizing radiation interacts with cells within the body—damaging them—the body responds to this damage, typically resulting in erythema—that is, redness around the damaged area. Radiation burns are often discussed in the same context as radiation-induced cancer due to the ability of ionizing radiation to interact with and damage DNA, occasionally inducing a cell to become cancerous. Cavity magnetrons can be improperly used to create surface and internal burning. Depending on the photon energy, gamma radiation can cause deep gamma burns, with 60Co internal burns common. Beta burns tend to be shallow as beta particles are not able to penetrate deeply into a body; these burns can be similar to sunburn. Alpha particles can cause internal alpha burns if inhaled, with external damage (if any) being limited to minor erythema.
Radiation burns can also occur with high power radio transmitters at any frequency where the body absorbs radio frequency energy and converts it to heat.[1] The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) considers 50 watts to be the lowest power above which radio stations must evaluate emission safety. Frequencies considered especially dangerous occur where the human body can become resonant, at 35 MHz, 70 MHz, 80-100 MHz, 400 MHz, and 1 GHz.[2] Exposure to microwaves of too high intensity can cause microwave burns.
^ARRL: RF Exposure Regulations News Archived 2008-05-17 at the Wayback Machine
^ARRL: RF Radiation and Electromagnetic Field Safety
A radiationburn is a damage to the skin or other biological tissue and organs as an effect of radiation. The radiation types of greatest concern are...
A burn is an injury to skin, or other tissues, caused by heat, cold, electricity, chemicals, friction, or ultraviolet radiation (such as sunburn). Most...
Sunburn is a form of radiationburn that affects living tissue, such as skin, that results from an overexposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, usually from the...
Ionizing radiation (US) (or ionising radiation [UK]), including nuclear radiation, consists of subatomic particles or electromagnetic waves that have sufficient...
Microwave burns are burn injuries caused by thermal effects of microwave radiation absorbed in a living organism. In comparison with radiationburns caused...
Acute radiation syndrome (ARS), also known as radiation sickness or radiation poisoning, is a collection of health effects that are caused by being exposed...
to hinder the progress of radiology. In 1902, he suffered a severe radiationburn on his hand. Six years later, the hand became necrotic and two fingers...
an unknown source of radiation, suffering radiationburns from which he would ultimately die. Although the source of radiation was never conclusively...
radiation. The risk of systemic infection is higher when the organism has a combined injury, such as a conventional blast, thermal burn, or radiation...
exposure. High doses can cause visually dramatic radiationburns, and/or rapid fatality through acute radiation syndrome. Controlled doses are used for medical...
particle radiation consists of particles of non-zero rest energy, such as alpha radiation (α), beta radiation (β), proton radiation and neutron radiation acoustic...
of approximately 30 people died from immediate blast trauma and acute radiation syndrome (ARS) in the seconds to months after the disaster, respectively...
Vitaly Leonenko, without regaining consciousness. Gorbachenko suffered a radiationburn on his back where Shashenok's hand was located when he helped carry...
possibility, radiationburns are not typical in standard fluoroscopic procedures. Most procedures sufficiently long in duration to produce radiationburns are...
Flash burn is any burn injury caused by intense flashes of light, high voltage electric current, or strong thermal radiation. These may originate from...
later. Only after Ivan's family's dog died, and Ivan's stepson showed radiationburn of his hands (as a result of briefly touching the cylinder), was the...
Thermal radiation is electromagnetic radiation emitted by the thermal motion of particles in matter. Thermal radiation transmits as an electromagnetic...
Chronic radiation syndrome (CRS), or chronic radiation enteritis, is a constellation of health effects of radiation that occur after months or years of...
Radiation therapy or radiotherapy (RT, RTx, or XRT) is a treatment using ionizing radiation, generally provided as part of cancer therapy to either kill...
result of radiationburns and radiation poisoning. His death was the first of its kind in the United States since the 1940s, when radiation deaths occurred...
A nuclear and radiation accident is defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as "an event that has led to significant consequences to...
total energy thermal radiation: 35% of total energy ionizing radiation: 5% of total energy (more in a neutron bomb) residual radiation: 5–10% of total energy...
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