Acute effects and latent effects
According to the time for the effects to occur, the biological effects of radiation can be divided into two categories: a) acute effects and b) latent effects.
Acute effects
There are three types of acute effects of radiation:
- Haematopoietic syndrome
- Gastrointestinal syndrome
- Central Nervous syndrome
| Radiation-induced syndromes and death due to exposures from acute low LET1 uniform whole body radiation | Whole body absorbed dose (Gy) |
|---|---|
| Damage to bone marrow | 3 - 5 |
| Damage to the gastrointestinal tract, lungs and kidney | 5 - 15 |
| Damage of the central nervous system | > 15 |
Source : 2007 Recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP Publication No. 103)
1 Low LET: Photons and electrons are low-LET (linear energy transfer) radiations with LET-values of less than 10 keV/µm.
Latent effects
Latent effects of radiation refer to those which occur 6 months after the exposure. It consists of two categories: somatic effects and genetic effects. The former refers to the effects occur on the exposed individuals (e.g. cataracts, radiation sickness, cancers, etc.) while the latter occurs in their future generations because of mutations of the genetic cells.