Question

What is the oxygen effect?

(a) Detrimental effect of oxygen in presence of therapeutic radiations

(b) A positive effect of oxygen in absence of therapeutic radiations

(c) Enhancement effect of oxygen in presence of therapeutic radiation

(d) Presence of oxygen during radiation treatment

This question was posed to me by my school principal while I was bunking the class.

I want to ask this question from Radiation Therapy topic in division Radiation Therapy of Clinical Science

Answer 1

Correct choice is (c) Enhancement effect of oxygen in presence of therapeutic radiation

The explanation is: When the radiations are used to destroy the cancerous cells, they inflict a certain amount of damage on the cells at a certain dosage. The same amount of damage is inflicted upon them at a lower dosage in the presence of oxygen. This is called Oxygen effect. It is calculated as a ratio between the damage done in hypoxic conditions to the damage in oxygen conditions.