Radon Exposure-Therapeutic Effect and Cancer Risk

Largely unnoticed, all life on earth is constantly exposed to low levels of ionizing radiation. Radon, an imperceptible natural occurring radioactive noble gas, contributes as the largest single fraction to radiation exposure from natural sources. For that reason, radon represents a major issue for...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of molecular sciences 2020-12, Vol.22 (1), p.316
Main Authors: Maier, Andreas, Wiedemann, Julia, Rapp, Felicitas, Papenfuß, Franziska, Rödel, Franz, Hehlgans, Stephanie, Gaipl, Udo S, Kraft, Gerhard, Fournier, Claudia, Frey, Benjamin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aerosols
Air Pollution, Indoor - adverse effects
Animals
Cancer
Chronic exposure
Clinical Trials as Topic
Degenerative diseases
Environmental Exposure - adverse effects
Gases
Humans
Ionizing radiation
Natural gas
Neoplasms - epidemiology
Neoplasms - etiology
Physiology
Progeny
Radiation effects
Radiation Exposure - adverse effects
Radiation Monitoring
Radiation protection
Radioactive decay
Radon
Radon - adverse effects
Radon - therapeutic use
Regions
Review
Risk Assessment
Risk Factors
Simulation
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Summary:Largely unnoticed, all life on earth is constantly exposed to low levels of ionizing radiation. Radon, an imperceptible natural occurring radioactive noble gas, contributes as the largest single fraction to radiation exposure from natural sources. For that reason, radon represents a major issue for radiation protection. Nevertheless, radon is also applied for the therapy of inflammatory and degenerative diseases in galleries and spas to many thousand patients a year. In either case, chronic environmental exposure or therapy, the effect of radon on the organism exposed is still under investigation at all levels of interaction. This includes the physical stage of diffusion and energy deposition by radioactive decay of radon and its progeny and the biological stage of initiating and propagating a physiologic response or inducing cancer after chronic exposure. The purpose of this manuscript is to comprehensively review the current knowledge of radon and its progeny on physical background, associated cancer risk and potential therapeutic effects.
ISSN:1422-0067
1661-6596
1422-0067
DOI:10.3390/ijms22010316