radiation sickness

a condition sometimes seen in patients who have received therapeutic doses of radiation. Its severity varies according to factors such as the individual's physical condition, the body areas exposed, and the amount, kind, and intensity of the exposure. The disease may be so slight that it is scarcely noticeable, or it may cause severe symptoms. Modern techniques and increased knowledge about radiation have lowered the incidence of severe radiation sickness. Systemic reactions to radiation include a general feeling of malaise, loss of appetite or nausea and vomiting, and headache. The symptoms tend to subside when the therapy is discontinued, leaving no permanent effect on the patient.

ra·di·a·tion sick·ness

a systemic condition caused by substantial whole-body irradiation, seen after nuclear explosions or accidents, rarely after radiotherapy. Manifestations depend on dosage, ranging from anorexia, nausea, vomiting, and mild leukopenia, to thrombocytopenia with hemorrhage, severe leukopenia with infection, anemia, central nervous system damage, and death.

Synonym(s): radiation poisoning

Farlex Partner Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

radiation sickness

Illness induced by exposure to ionizing radiation, ranging in severity from nausea, vomiting, headache, and diarrhea to loss of hair and teeth, reduction in red and white blood cell counts, extensive hemorrhaging, sterility, and death.

radiation sickness

The generic term for the constellation of findings associated with exposure to high doses of ionising radiation.

ra·di·a·tion sick·ness

(rā'dē-ā'shŭn sik'nĕs)

A systemic condition caused by substantial whole-body irradiation, seen after nuclear explosions or accidents, more rarely after radiotherapy. Manifestations depend on dose, ranging from anorexia, nausea, vomiting, and mild leukopenia to thrombocytopenia with hemorrhage, severe leukopenia with infection, anemia, central nervous system damage, and death.

Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing © Farlex 2012

radiation sickness

The effects of major doses of ionizing RADIATION on the whole body. The symptoms and rapidity of onset depend on the dose taken. They include nausea and vomiting, bloody diarrhoea, bleeding into the skin, the effects of severe ANAEMIA, hair loss and sterility. Very large doses, of 30 to 100 GRAY, cause rapid onset of abdominal symptoms with anxiety, disorientation, coma and death within a few days from damage to the nervous system. Radiation sickness is caused by the production of large numbers of damaging FREE RADICALS.

Collins Dictionary of Medicine © Robert M. Youngson 2004, 2005

ra·di·a·tion sick·ness

(rā'dē-ā'shŭn sik'nĕs)

Systemic condition caused by substantial whole-body irradiation, seen after nuclear explosions or accidents, but rarely after radiotherapy. Manifestations depend on dosage.

Medical Dictionary for the Dental Professions © Farlex 2012

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References in periodicals archive

Even if one were to get a dose of radiation high enough to develop temporary radiation sickness, with nausea, the increased chance of cancer is much less than five percent.

NUCLEAR POWER THE PROMISE VS. IRRATIONAL FEAR: After decades of unprecentedly safe energy production, nuclear power generation is still being unfairly vilified as a hazardous, costly, and anti-environmental option

* The report reviews pipeline therapeutics for Radiation Toxicity (Radiation Sickness, Acute Radiation Syndrome) by companies and universities/research institutes based on information derived from company and industry-specific sources

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(9) BNL medical teams visited Rongelap annually for the next 30 years and reported after each visit that the Rongelap people were 'healthy.' (10) Radioactive toxicity of the plant foods which the Rongelap people had been ingesting daily was apparently not considered connected to the whole body gamma scintillation or urinalysis results, or signs of radiation sickness. They found no differences between exposed and unexposed populations, suggesting that all residents were exposed to a common, environmental source of toxic radioactive substances.

Nuclear contamination of food in the Pacific Lifting the veil of secrecy

Symptoms of acute radiation sickness include nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, loss of appetite, leukocytopenia (a decrease in the white blood cell count, which can lead to infection), anemia, thrombocytopenia (a low platelet count, which can lead to internal and external bleeding and poor healing of wounds), dizziness, fever, headache, hair loss, and cognitive impairment.

Radiation exposure: current and future treatments

Radiation sickness was caused by exposures >2,000 mSv.

Biological effects of ionizing radiation: a perspective for Japan

"20km may experience radiation sickness I am 250km away and though radiation levels have risen this is not damaging to human health.

The anxious wait; Families' anguish after quake

I lost my son when we was still a baby because of radiation sickness. I hope that the world will not live such a terrible thing once again," she said.

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Anthony read the accounts of the new unknown radiation sickness, the terrified eyewitness accounts of the attack, and sickening stories told of the inhumane treatment of Allied Soldiers held in Japanese captivity, including the horrific experiences of Soldiers on the POW ships.

First Into Nagasaki

I do not know what kind of radiation I was exposed to--only that it was "radioactive." The material that follows is presented in the hopes that it may be of some assistance to others dealing with radiation sickness.

Notes on a battle with acute radiation poisoning

These developments took place within 48 hours after another person was admitted to the AIIMS with radiation sickness on Monday.

Radiation scare shuts Mayapuri scrap shops

Made in the years when Ronald Reagan had his finger on the button, the film portrays a suburban mother who survives a preemptive nuclear strike; her children die from radiation sickness, but still she finds a place for hope.

Lars Nilsson: Milliken