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GCSE

Measuring and Detecting Radioactivity

Question

How is internal radiation therapy conducted?

2 years ago

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Pattie Hickle


1 Answer

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Emma P Verified Sherpa Tutor ✓

Hi! Happy to help with GCSE physics, maths, and chemistry :)

Hello :) Internal radiation treatments can be quite varied. The two main treatments are brachytherapy and Radiopharmaceuticals.

Brachytherapy - this is when a radioactive pellet/seed is either temporarily or permenantly inserted into a patient near or inside a tumour. For example, permenant radioactive seed implants are commonly used to treat prostate cancer, where as temporary radioactive seed implants are used to treat cervical cancer.

Radiopharmaceuticals - These are drugs that have a radioactive isotope attached to the active chemical. Usually the drugs will be designed to "seek out" abnormal cells (cancer cells), taking the radioactive isotope with them and irradiating the tumour.


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