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Cobalt therapy is the medical use of gamma rays from the radioisotope cobalt-60 to treat conditions such as cancer.Beginning in the 1950s, cobalt-60 was widely used in external beam radiotherapy (teletherapy) machines, which produced a beam of gamma rays which was directed into the patient's body to kill tumor tissue.
The physical properties of cobalt such as resistance to bulk oxidation and low solubility in water give some advantages in safety in the case of a containment breach over some other gamma sources such as caesium-137. The main uses for 60 Co are: As a tracer for cobalt in chemical reactions; Sterilization of medical equipment. [8]
In addition to their uses in radiography, both cobalt-60 (60 Co) and iridium-192 (192 Ir) are used in the radiotherapy of cancer. Cobalt-60 tends to be used in teletherapy units as a higher photon energy alternative to caesium-137, while iridium-192 tends to be used in a different mode of therapy, internal radiotherapy or brachytherapy.
Cobalt-60 beam machine from 1951. Cobalt units use radiation from cobalt-60, which emits two gamma rays at energies of 1.17 and 1.33 MeV, a dichromatic beam with an average energy of 1.25 MeV. The role of the cobalt unit has largely been replaced by the linear accelerator, which can generate higher energy radiation.
Cobalt-60 (60 Co) is useful as a gamma ray source because it can be produced in predictable quantities, and for its high radioactivity simply by exposing natural cobalt to neutrons in a reactor. [8] The uses for industrial cobalt include: Sterilization of medical supplies and medical waste
In November 1951, the first Saskatoon patient, a 43-year-old mother of four, was treated for cervical cancer with a carefully calibrated dose of cobalt-60 radiation. In early 1952, Maclean's magazine had dubbed the cobalt-source radiotherapy machine the cobalt bomb - a tongue-in-cheek tribute to this peaceful use of nuclear technology.
The headquarters are the main manufacturing facilities for medical isotopes, used in medical imaging and radiopharmaceuticals, and for cobalt-60 sources and industrial food irradiators. The Nordion Gamma Centre of Excellence (GCE) is a gamma irradiation research, training, and demonstration facility located in Laval, Quebec, Canada.
Cobalt-60 is used as a radiation source for radiotherapy (specifically, cobalt therapy). Cobalt-60 (60 Co) is a synthetic radioactive isotope of cobalt, with a half-life of 5.27 years, and emits highly penetrating gamma rays. It is commonly used as a radiation source for radiotherapy and equipment sterilization in hospital settings, and also ...