Sanjay Mehta, M.D.

exposure to these packets of energy are going to cause damage to your DNA.

exposure to these packets of energy are going to cause damage to your DNA.

Yeah, I'm not sure what the reason is. They are inversely proportional to each other. I don't know that, I guess I'm probably not enough of a physicist to answer that question precisely. But having said that, that is the characteristic of this. And in doing so, that's one of the big reasons why all the fallacies about your cell phone giving you brain cancer and all are just that.

Yeah, I'm not sure what the reason is. They are inversely proportional to each other. I don't know that, I guess I'm probably not enough of a physicist to answer that question precisely. But having said that, that is the characteristic of this. And in doing so, that's one of the big reasons why all the fallacies about your cell phone giving you brain cancer and all are just that.

They're fallacies because even having a cell phone on your ear for hours a day, it's non-ionizing radiation. And standing too close to a microwave oven, again, non-ionizing radiation. So that cannot damage your cells.

They're fallacies because even having a cell phone on your ear for hours a day, it's non-ionizing radiation. And standing too close to a microwave oven, again, non-ionizing radiation. So that cannot damage your cells.

Correct. It can excite the molecules, but it won't actually eject an electron, which is what would cause an ion to form, which is why it's called ionizing. And that's where we deal with on the, I'm on the therapeutic end. So diagnostic radiologists deal with lower energy x-rays than we do The very high energy X is what we use in our linear accelerators to treat cancer.

Correct. It can excite the molecules, but it won't actually eject an electron, which is what would cause an ion to form, which is why it's called ionizing. And that's where we deal with on the, I'm on the therapeutic end. So diagnostic radiologists deal with lower energy x-rays than we do The very high energy X is what we use in our linear accelerators to treat cancer.

So that's the big difference there is kilovoltage versus megavoltage, but all of these are ionizing. Okay.

So that's the big difference there is kilovoltage versus megavoltage, but all of these are ionizing. Okay.

So radiation dosage, there's a couple of different terms that we've talked about. The main one we talk about when we're talking about patient treatment is the unit called the gray. And that's an SI unit that essentially is joules of energy per kilogram of tissue. So that's what they call absorbed dose. So that's in tissue.

So radiation dosage, there's a couple of different terms that we've talked about. The main one we talk about when we're talking about patient treatment is the unit called the gray. And that's an SI unit that essentially is joules of energy per kilogram of tissue. So that's what they call absorbed dose. So that's in tissue.

Whereas when you're talking about exposure in the general, in the air and just in general exposure, it's in the air, we usually use the term sievert for that. And actually both those terms for the most part are equivalent. It's just that the sievert itself will take into account if you have different types of x-rays, different qualities of x-rays that have different degrees of

Whereas when you're talking about exposure in the general, in the air and just in general exposure, it's in the air, we usually use the term sievert for that. And actually both those terms for the most part are equivalent. It's just that the sievert itself will take into account if you have different types of x-rays, different qualities of x-rays that have different degrees of

potential to be ionizing, that they have a quality factor you'll multiply it by. But for the most part, we use the term gray when we're talking about, for example, when I treat a prostate patient, they're going to get somewhere between 70 and 80 gray, but it's fractionated into small daily doses as to be tolerable for the body.

potential to be ionizing, that they have a quality factor you'll multiply it by. But for the most part, we use the term gray when we're talking about, for example, when I treat a prostate patient, they're going to get somewhere between 70 and 80 gray, but it's fractionated into small daily doses as to be tolerable for the body.

And then when we talk about male receivers like we're going to, that's really just a measure of exposure, not absorbed dose in tissue per se.

And then when we talk about male receivers like we're going to, that's really just a measure of exposure, not absorbed dose in tissue per se.

Yeah, so a gray and a sievert, technically. If anyone's kind of old school, you listen to older stuff, you'll hear the term rads. A lot of people have heard of rads. So one rad is equal to one centigray. 100 rads is a gray. It's just an SI unit versus the old terminology. And a sievert is the equivalent, only it's in air, not in tissue. But a sievert is a gray?

Yeah, so a gray and a sievert, technically. If anyone's kind of old school, you listen to older stuff, you'll hear the term rads. A lot of people have heard of rads. So one rad is equal to one centigray. 100 rads is a gray. It's just an SI unit versus the old terminology. And a sievert is the equivalent, only it's in air, not in tissue. But a sievert is a gray?