INVESTIGATIONS ON THE GONAD BURDEN IN THE X-RAY THERAPY OF NON-TUMOROUS DISEASES

The authors examined the gonad charge in the x-ray therapy of nontumorous diseases through the correlation of values from measurements on patients and on a water phantom, the women being measured in the vagina and the men on the surface of the scrotum. The gonad dose attained high values in the radiation of the hip-joint and the lumbosacral vertebral column; in the radiation of the remaining parts it was essentially lower. For orientation purposes of the real gonad charge in the radiation of nontumorous diseases a documentation analysis was carried out in two radiotherapeutical faculty departments. It was ascertained that in the course of a year 0.77% of the population of four suburbs in Prague were x rayed on account of nontumorous diseases. In persons of a reproductive age doses were at tained, which could lead to a somatic damage only occasionally. However, when one considers the cumulative ray effect, lower doses may not be neglected, especially with young people. (auth)