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A 33-year-old member asked:

If radioactivity can cause cancer, do cancer radiation treatments radiate the people around the patients?

2 doctor answers5 doctors weighed in
Dr. Addagada Rao
General Surgery 58 years experience
NO: Patients who received radiation, the radiation energy like gamma rays dissipates in the tissues immediately, and patients can not re emit radiation, and safe to other people. Similarly implantable so called ' radiation seeds' are safe to other people and environment.
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
Dr. Gurmukh Singh
Pathology 51 years experience
No, except..: External beam radiation does not make the patient radioactive and they do not emit radiation. The exception being the few cases in which radioactive material is implanted in the patient, e.g., radioactive seeds for treatment of prostate cancer.
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.

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Last updated Jun 23, 2020

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