Chapter 9, The Doctor and the Atom, pp. 79-101.

_Atomic Energy in Medicine_, K. E. Halnan, Philosophical Library, Inc., New York 10016, 1958, 157 pp., $6.00. (Out of print but available through libraries.)

_Teach Yourself Atomic Physics_, James M. Valentine, The Macmillan Company, New York 10011, 1961, 192 pp., $1.95. (Out of print but available through libraries.) Chapter X, Medical and Biological Uses of Radioactive Isotopes, pp. 173-184.

_Atoms for Peace_, David O. Woodbury, Dodd, Mead & Company, New York 10016, 1965, 259 pp., $4.50. Pp. 174-191.

_The Atom at Work_, Jacob Sacks, The Ronald Press Company, New York 10010, 1956, 341 pp., $5.50. Chapter 13, Radioactive Isotopes in Hospital and Clinic, pp. 244-264.

Articles

Ionizing Radiation and Medicine, S. Warren, _Scientific American_, 201: 164 (September 1959).

Nuclear Nurses Learn to Tame the Atom, W. McGaffin, _Today’s Health_, 37: 62 (December 1959).

How Isotopes Aid Medicine in Tracking Down Your Ailments, J. Foster, _Today’s Health_, 42: 40 (May 1964).

Nuclear Energy as a Medical Tool, G. W. Tressel, _Today’s Health_, 43: 50 (May 1965).

Reports

_Radioisotopes in Medicine_ (SRIA-13), Stanford Research Institute, Clearinghouse for Federal Scientific and Technical Information, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, Virginia 22151, 1959, 180 pp., $3.00.

The following reports are available from the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. 20402.

_Isotopes and Radiation Technology_ (Fall 1963), P. S. Baker, A. F. Rupp, and Associates, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U. S. Atomic Energy Commission, 123 pp., $0.70.

_Radioisotopes in Medicine_ (ORO-125), Gould A. Andrews, Marshall Brucer, and Elizabeth B. Anderson, 1956, 817 pp., $6.00.

_Applications of Radioisotopes and Radiation in the Life Sciences_, Hearings before the Subcommittee on Research, Development, and Radiation of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, 87th Congress, 1st Session, 1961, 513 pp., $1.50; Summary Analysis of the Hearings, 23 pp., $0.15.

Motion Pictures

Available for loan without charge from the AEC Headquarters Film Library, Division of Public Information, U. S. Atomic Energy Commission, Washington, D. C. 20545 and from other AEC film libraries.

_Radioisotope Applications in Medicine_, 26 minutes, black and white, sound, 1964. Produced by the Educational Broadcasting Corporation under the joint direction of the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission’s Divisions of Isotopes Development and Nuclear Education and Training, and the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies. This film traces the development of the use of radioisotopes and radiation in the field of medicine from the early work of Hevesy to the present. Descriptions of the following are given: study of cholesterol and arteriosclerosis; cobalt labeled vitamin B₁₂ used to study pernicious anemia; history of iodine radioisotopes and the thyroid; brain tumor localization; determination of body fluid volumes; red cell lifetime; and use of radioisotopes for the treatment of various diseases.

_Medicine_, 20 minutes, sound, color, 1957. Produced by the U. S. Information Agency. Four illustrations of the use of radioactive materials in diagnosis and therapy are given: exact preoperative location of brain tumor; scanning and charting of thyroids; cancer therapy research; and the study of blood diseases and hardening of the arteries.

_Radiation Protection in Nuclear Medicine_, 45 minutes, sound, color, 1962. Produced by the Fordel Films for the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery of the U. S. Navy. This semitechnical film demonstrates the procedures devised for naval hospitals to protect against the gamma radiation emitted from materials used in radiation therapy.

The following films in the Magic of the Atom Series were produced by the Handel Film Corporation. They are each 12½ minutes long, have sound, and are in black and white.

_The Atom and the Doctor_ (1954) shows three applications of radioisotopes in medicine: testing for leukemia and other blood disorders with radioiron; diagnosis of thyroid conditions with radioiodine; and cancer research and therapy with radiogallium.

_The Atom in the Hospital_ (1961) (available in color and black and white) illustrates the following facilities at the City of Hope Medical Center in Los Angeles: the stationary cobalt source that is used to treat various forms of malignancies; a rotational therapy unit called the “cesium ring”, which revolves around the patient and focuses its beam on the diseased area; and the total-body irradiation chamber for studying the effects of radiation on living things. Research with these facilities is explained.

_Atomic Biology for Medicine_ (1956) explains experiments performed to discover effects of radiation on mammals.

_Atoms for Health_ (1956) outlines two methods of diagnosis and treatment possible with radiation: a diagnostic test of the liver, and cancer therapy with a radioactive cobalt device. Case histories are presented step-by-step.

_Radiation: Silent Servant of Mankind_ (1956) depicts four uses of controlled radiation that can benefit mankind: bombardment of plants from a radioactive cobalt source to induce genetic changes for study and crop improvement; irradiation of deep-seated tumors with a beam from a particle accelerator; therapy of thyroid cancer with radioactive iodine; and possibilities for treating brain tumors.

PHOTO CREDITS

Cover Courtesy Brookhaven National Laboratory

Page 1 General Electric Company 2, 3, & 4 _Discovery of the Elements._ Mary Elvira Weeks, Journal of Chemical Education 6 Nobel Institute 12 Chicago Wesley Memorial Hospital (main photo) 13 Lawrence Radiation Laboratory (LRL) 14 Brookhaven National Laboratory 17 LRL 21 LRL 22 Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory 24 LRL 28 Argonne National Laboratory 39 Paul V. Harper, M. D. 41 University of Texas, M. D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute

This booklet is one of the “Understanding the Atom” Series. Comments are invited on this booklet and others in the series; please send them to the Division of Technical Information, U. S. Atomic Energy Commission, Washington, D. C. 20545.

Published as part of the AEC’s educational assistance program, the series includes these titles:

_Accelerators_ _Animals in Atomic Research_ _Atomic Fuel_ _Atomic Power Safety_ _Atoms at the Science Fair_ _Atoms in Agriculture_ _Atoms, Nature, and Man_ _Books on Atomic Energy for Adults and Children_ _Careers in Atomic Energy_ _Computers_ _Controlled Nuclear Fusion_ _Cryogenics, The Uncommon Cold_ _Direct Conversion of Energy_ _Fallout From Nuclear Tests_ _Food Preservation by Irradiation_ _Genetic Effects of Radiation_ _Index to the UAS Series_ _Lasers_ _Microstructure of Matter_ _Neutron Activation Analysis_ _Nondestructive Testing_ _Nuclear Clocks_ _Nuclear Energy for Desalting_ _Nuclear Power and Merchant Shipping_ _Nuclear Power Plants_ _Nuclear Propulsion for Space_ _Nuclear Reactors_ _Nuclear Terms, A Brief Glossary_ _Our Atomic World_ _Plowshare_ _Plutonium_ _Power from Radioisotopes_ _Power Reactors in Small Packages_ _Radioactive Wastes_ _Radioisotopes and Life Processes_ _Radioisotopes in Industry_ _Radioisotopes in Medicine_ _SNAP, Nuclear Space Reactors_ _Sources of Nuclear Fuel_ _Space Radiation_ _Spectroscopy_ _Synthetic Transuranium Elements_ _The Atom and the Ocean_ _The Chemistry of the Noble Gases_ _The Elusive Neutrino_ _The First Reactor_ _The Natural Radiation Environment_ _Whole Body Counters_ _Your Body and Radiation_

A single copy of any one booklet, or of no more than three different booklets, may be obtained free by writing to:

USAEC, P. O. BOX 62, OAK RIDGE, TENNESSEE 37830

Complete sets of the series are available to school and public librarians, and to teachers who can make them available for reference or for use by groups. Requests should be made on school or library letterheads and indicate the proposed use.

Students and teachers who need other material on specific aspects of nuclear science, or references to other reading material, may also write to the Oak Ridge address. Requests should state the topic of interest exactly, and the use intended.

In all requests, include “Zip Code” in return address.

Printed in the United States of America USAEC Division of Technical Information Extension, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

FOOTNOTES

[1]The early dangers from use of X rays, due to incomplete understanding and inadequate shielding, have now been eliminated.

[2]Gamma rays are high-energy electromagnetic radiation.

[3]Alpha particles are large positively charged particles, identical to helium nuclei. For definitions of unfamiliar words see _Nuclear Terms, A Brief Glossary_, a companion booklet in this series.

[4]For detailed descriptions of these waves and particles, see _Our Atomic World_, a companion booklet in this series.

[5]An equivalent statement is that nuclei of isotopes have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons.

[6]See Appendix for a description of types of radiation-detection instruments.

[7]See _Radioisotopes and Life Processes_, another booklet in this series, for a discussion of one area of biomedical research.

[8]A positron is an “antielectron”. It has the mass of an electron but a positive charge.

[9]A collimator is a focusing device consisting of a series of slits between blocks of shielding material. Consult the Appendix for descriptions of other instruments mentioned here.

[10]The superscript m after this isotope indicates an excited state of the atom.

[11]As radioactive nuclei disintegrate, they change to other radioactive forms—their “daughter” products. Every radioisotope is thus part of a chain or series of steps that ends with a stable form. Technetium-99^{m} is a daughter product of molybdenum-99; it decays by a process known as isomeric transition to a state of lower energy and longer half-life.

[12]The curie is the basic unit of radiation intensity. One curie is approximately the amount of radioactivity in 1 gram of radium.

[13]See Your Body and Radiation and The Genetic Effects of Radiation, other booklets in this series, for detailed explanations of radiation effects.

[14]The use of radium is not under AEC control.

[15]One family of measuring instruments is described in _Whole Body Counters_, another booklet in this series. These are large devices that make use of scintillating crystals or liquids.

Transcriber’s Notes

--Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication.

--Where possible, UTF superscript and subscript numbers are used; some e-reader fonts may not support these characters.

--In the text version only, underlined or italicized text is delimited by _underscores_.

--In the text version only, superscript text is preceded by caret and delimited by ^{brackets}.

--In the text version only, subscripted text is preceded by underscore and delimited by _{brackets}.

End of Project Gutenberg's Radioisotopes in Medicine, by Earl W. Phelan