Radiation reaction of rat skin. The role of the number of fractions and the overall treatment time.
Acute skin reactions resulting from orthovoltage x-irradiation were measured in the WAG/Rij rat. A wide range of combination of fraction number and overall time were used in an attempt to determine their relative importance. There appeared to be little effect of prolongation of overall treatment time until periods of over 2 weeks were reached. In treatment periods of 3 weeks and over the stimulation of extensive time-dependent recovery was seen. A model based on cell kill with provision for the stimulation of accelerated proliferation at about 17 days adequately describes the experimental results.
D000818:Animals; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D011833:Radiation Injuries, Experimental; D051381:Rats; D012867:Skin / Q000528:radiation effects*; D014965:X-Rays