Since the discovery of X-rays and radioactivity, ionizing radiations
have been widely applied in medicine both for diagnostic and therapeutic
purposes. The risks associated with radiation exposure and handling led
to the parallel development of the field of radiation protection.
Pioneering experiments done by Sanche and co-workers in 2000 showed that
low-energy secondary electrons, which are abundantly generated along
radiation tracks, are primarily responsible for radiation damage through
successive interactions with the molecular constituents of the medium.
Apart from ionizing processes, which are usually related to radiation
damage, below the ionization level low-energy electrons can induce
molecular fragmentation via dissociative processes such as internal
excitation and electron attachment. This prompted collaborative projects
between different research groups from European countries together with
other specialists from Canada, the USA and Australia.
This book summarizes the advances achieved by these research groups
after more than ten years of studies on radiation damage in biomolecular
systems.
An extensive Part I deals with recent experimental and theoretical
findings on radiation induced damage at the molecular level. It includes
many contributions on electron and positron collisions with biologically
relevant molecules. X-ray and ion interactions are also covered. Part II
addresses different approaches to radiation damage modelling. In Part
III biomedical aspects of radiation effects are treated on different
scales. After the physics-oriented focus of the previous parts, there is
a gradual transition to biology and medicine with the increasing size of
the object studied. Finally, Part IV is dedicated to current trends and
novel techniques in radiation reserach and the applications hence
arising. It includes new developments in radiotherapy and related cancer
therapies, as well as technical optimizations of accelerators and
totally new equipment designs, giving a glimpse of the near future of
radiation-based medical treatments.
