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Symptoms of radiation injury

, medical expert
Last reviewed: 17.10.2021
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Symptoms of radiation damage depend on whether the ionizing radiation acts on the whole organism (acute radiation syndrome) or only on the part of the body.

trusted-source[1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7]

Acute radiation syndromes

There are several different syndromes after irradiation of the whole organism. These syndromes have three phases:

  • prodromal phase (from 0 to 2 days after irradiation) with general weakness, nausea and vomiting;
  • latent asymptomatic phase (1 -20 days after irradiation);
  • phase of the height of the disease (2-60 days after irradiation).

Acute radiation syndromes are classified according to the main affected organ system. The higher the radiation dose, the harder and faster the disease progresses. Symptoms and their dynamics after exposure to radiation dose are characteristic for a certain dose, i.e. They can be used to estimate the received dose of ionizing radiation.

Cerebral syndrome is caused by extremely high doses of whole body radiation (> 10 Gy), always leading to death of the patient. Manifestations start from a few minutes to an hour after irradiation. The latent phase is small or absent, the patient develops tremors, convulsions, ataxia, cerebral edema and death within hours or 1 -2 days.

Gastrointestinal syndrome develops after whole body irradiation with a dose> 4 Gy, with symptoms dominated by the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms of the long-term period are often expressed, develop after 2-12 hours and disappear within 2 days. The latent period is 4-5 days, during which cells of the gastrointestinal mucosa die; it is accompanied by nausea, indomitable vomiting and diarrhea, which lead to severe dehydration and electrolyte imbalance, a decrease in the volume of plasma and vascular collapse. It is also possible to develop bowel necrosis, predisposing to bacteremia and sepsis. Deaths are observed quite often. The surviving patients have hematologic syndrome.

Hematologic syndrome occurs after an entire body radiation dose> 2 Gy. A moderately pronounced prodromal period can begin in 6-12 hours and last 24-36 hours. Cells of the bone marrow are damaged immediately, which first leads to lymphopenia (as pronounced in 24-36 h). However, the patient has no symptoms during the latent period> 1 week, other than a decrease in bone marrow function. As a result of neutropenia (most noticeable at 2-4 weeks) and decrease in antibody production, various infections develop, and as a result of thrombocytopenia, which develops within 3-4 weeks and can persist for many months, petechiae and hemorrhage develop into the mucous membranes. Anemia is formed slowly, because the erythrocytes that existed before irradiation had a longer life span than leukocytes and platelets. In surviving patients, the incidence of leukemia is increased.

trusted-source[8], [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], [16]

Local radiation damage

Irradiation of almost any organ can lead to acute and chronic adverse effects. In most patients, these are side effects of radiation therapy.

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