THE IMPACT OF CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS ON MEDICAL IMAGING AND RADIOTHERAPY REGIMES FOR THE PAEDIATRIC PATIENT

• Daily rhythmic changes are found in cellular events in cell cycle, DNA repair, apoptosis and angiogenesis in both normal and tumour tissue, as well as in enzymatic activity and drug metabolism. In this paper, we hypothesize that circadian rhythms need to be considered in radiation protection and optimization in personalized medicine, especially for paediatric care. The sensitivity of the eye lens to ionizing radiation makes the case for limiting damage to the lens epithelium by planning medical radio-imaging procedures for the afternoon, rather than the morning. Equally, the tumour and normal tissue response to radiotherapy is also subject to diurnal variation enabling optimization of time of treatment.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Arbetsmedicin och miljömedicin (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Occupational Health and Environmental Health (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Radiologi och bildbehandling (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Medical Imaging (hsv//eng)

Keyword

age-related cataract

dna-damage

mitotic-activity

transcriptional

responses

bilateral adrenalectomy

cell-proliferation

rectal mucosa

growth-factor

rat lens

clock

Environmental Sciences & Ecology

Public

Environmental & Occupational

Health

Nuclear Science & Technology

Radiology

Medical Imaging

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)