Safety of scans and radiation therapy ?

[Guest guest]

Author has had to face the criticism that he always looks at negative

side first. Accepted. Often, patient suffered due to something negative, which

makes him investigate what was the cause.

 

Prevention of the disease through lifestyle and diet is the essense

of ayurveda. Hence the name 'Science of longevity'. In this

philosophical frame, we should steer our lifestyle to avoid dangers

everywhere. If you can maintain health, then also you have achieved a

great victory. What guidelines served in history, no more adequate,

and new guidelines have to be added to ayurveda. Modern ayurvedists have started

using the fruits of science. Hence study/discussion by ayurvedist on tools of

diagnosis/treatment is necessary.

 

Two posts on risks involved in Ultrasound scans (Sonography) were

presented by this author earlier in this forum. The safety of

pregnant mothers and babies is of utmost importance, since whole next

generation is involved. Assume that an ayurvedist, under integrated medicine

approach, knowing the usefulness of radiation therapy advises cancer patient to

go through radiation as a quick relief from pain. Then as a healer, he must know

the risks to which he is subjecting his patient. On this principle, this info is

posted here, no modern science practitioner should treat this as a personal

criticism.

 

1. On the effects of radiation, a recent report is here. For

additional information, the links is:

 

http://www.rense.com/general66/caise.htm

 

Even very low doses of radiation pose a risk of cancer over a person's

lifetime, a National Academy of Sciences panel concluded Wednesday. It

rejected some scientists' arguments that tiny doses are harmless or

may in fact be beneficial.

 

2. The effect of this on fertility is

investigated and in order to preserve the fertility, removal of eggs

and cryo-preservation is generally recommended. Here is a piece of

published result in this regard.

 

 

Model predicts age of infertility after radiotherapy

Source: International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics

2005; 62: 738-44

 

Researchers predict the age at which ovarian failure is likely to

occur in women who receive radiotherapy to a region containing the

ovary.

 

UK researchers have developed a formula that can predict when a woman

will become sterile after receiving radiotherapy for the treatment of

cancer.

 

Using modern three-dimensional radiotherapy planning, Hamish Wallace,

from the University of Edinburgh, and his colleagues calculate the

amount of radiation that will be received by the ovaries. This, taken

together with data regarding the radiosensitivity of the human

oocyte, allows them to estimate the proportion of primordial oocytes

that will survive treatment.

 

After accounting for age and the number of premature eggs at the time

of treatment, the team may then predict the age of ovarian failure,

within a window of 7.6 years.

 

Armed with this information, doctors may be able to prevent some of

the side effects of an early menopause, such as osteoporosis, using

HRT, and also counsel their patients of their reproductive potential,

as well as the options available to them for fertility preservation.

"What we can do is give women choice and more understanding about

their treatment," said Wallace.

 

"If they've got a partner, they may want some of their eggs to be

frozen.

 

"If we have a very young patient who has not gone through puberty

yet, then the options are limited. It might be worth taking a biopsy

of the ovary and freezing it."

 

In conclusion, patients should note that researchers now admit the risks. In

science, we say we know something better when a theoretical or computational

model is presented/verified by experiments.

 

Dr Bhate