Radiobiology for the Radiologist, 6th Edition

Radiobiology for the Radiologist, 6th Edition Summary:

By Eric J Hall, Amato J Giaccia

Publisher:   Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Number Of Pages:   656

Publication Date:   2005-12-01

ISBN-10 / ASIN:   0781741513

ISBN-13 / EAN:   9780781741514

Product Description:

The updated Sixth Edition of this popular text will remain the first choice for those who need current, clinically relevant information on how radiation affects the human body. Written by practicing, active radiobiologists, the book brings together basic laboratory research and practical, clinical applications. The easy-to-read text and informative illustrations ensure comprehension, and summaries at the end of each chapter facilitate quick review.

The first section covers topics applicable to diagnostic radiology, nuclear medicine, and radiation oncology; the second section offers material specifically for radiation oncologists. This edition includes new material about doses and risks in interventional radiology and cardiology. "Doody's Core Titles 2009."

Summary: Must have for Radiation Oncology Rating: 4

Thorough book for Radbio boards, much easier read than Khan, wish they had a similar product for physics.

Summary: HOW RADIATION INTERACTS WITH YOU Rating: 5

Hall's sixth edition of RADIOBIOLOGY FOR THE RADIOLOGIST was the text I used for a course on radiobiology. I am a diagnostic imaging physicist and I highly recommend Hall's book for other medical physicists. Aside from the NCRP and BEIR reports, Hall is the go-to source for the biological effects of radiation. It is directed more towards cancer therapy, with every section pointing towards the use of radiation to attack cancer cells. Hall covers the biological effects of radiation in the first half and covers radiation therapy explicitly in the second half. As other reviewers have mentioned, Hall is very readable despite the deep level of detail he goes into when covering biological processes. Sometimes the professional jargon does become impenetrable to someone not trained in biology, and while Hall is careful to cover the basic physics of radiation interactions I think the book would benefit from a chapter covering biological terminology. His chapters overflow with graphs and charts, which I believe is a good thing, but they can be difficult to interpret as Hall rarely includes error bars on his plots. His chapter summaries are excellent review mechanisms and teaching aids. Finally, each chapter has an extensive bibliography so that the inquisitive student can do further research. For the diagnostic imaging physicist, the first fifteen chapters are invaluable as a detailed guide to the biological effects of radiation. Hall covers the physics and chemistry of radiation absorption, how radiation affects DNA and cell behavior, the relative biological effects of different radiation modes and environmnet conditions, the deterministic and stochastic effects of radiation, radiation protection methods, and the doses and risks in radiology. The second half of the book is devoted to radiation therapy, which would pertain more to radiation oncologists and radiation therapy physicists.

Summary: Very comprehensible Rating: 5

I am a nuclear pharmacist who gets to work with a lot of introductory students. This book has greatly increased my knowledge of this subject and it is very clearly written even for the non-specialist in radiobiology. I would buy this again.

Summary: Excellent book for the radiology and radiation oncology resident! Rating: 5

This book has an excellent concise layout. The chapters are well written with almost every concept covered on the basis of primary literature findings; however, this is burdensome in certain locations where a simple sentence would have been better fit instead of an experiment based explanation of a more remote concept. Additionally, there are some areas, such as the molecular biology sections, that pack in details that take the concept of the mark. Despite this, the textbook is definitely an easy read. The Key points sections at the end is very helpful. There are abundant figures, tables, and graphs for ease of integration of material.

Summary: good but not perfect Rating: 4

Yes, this book covers the important topics, and overall it is pretty readable, but I wish the editors had not felt compelled to convert every single mention of Grays into rads. For example, here is a passage from the book:

"In 1964, a 38-year-old man, working in a uranium-235 recovery plant, was involved in an accidental nuclear excursion. He received a total-body dose estimated to be about 88 Gy (8,800 rads) made up of 22 Gy (2,200 rads) of neutrons and 66 Gy (6,600 rads) of gamma-rays."

The whole book is like that. The mental intrusion of such frequent parenthetical remarks would be irritating enough in any text, but in this case the conversion from Grays and rads is by a multiple of ten and so the conversion is comically unnecessary. Presumably radiation oncologists, radiologists, and radiobiologists are bright enough to be able to multiply a number by 100 in their heads. It would suffice to state in the front of the book or in an appendix the relationship between Grays and rads, and to make no further mention of rads.

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