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INTRODUCTION:

It is a therapeutic device.

Cobalt-60, is a synthetic radioactive isotope.

It has a half-life of 5.2714 years.

It is produced by neutron irradiation in a nuclear reactor.

60Co decays by beta decay to the stable isotope nickel-

60. The activated nickel nucleus emits two gamma

rays with energies of 1.17 and 1.33 MeV,

Cobalt 60:

External Beam Radiation Therapy

External beam radiation therapy comes from a machine that aims

radiation at your cancer. The machine is large and may be noisy. It

does not touch you, but rotates around you, sending radiation to your

body from many directions.

External beam radiation therapy is a local treatment, meaning that the

radiation is aimed only at a specific part of your body. For example, if

you have lung cancer, you will get radiation to your chest only and not

the rest of your body.

Working principle

An external sealed source of cobalt 60is used in

teletherapy unit as a source of intense gamma

radiation for the treatment of a variety of cancers.

Cobalt 60 is used as tracer that is injected into the

body, then cobalt 60 source emits gamma rays, that’s

scanned by machine

Parts of cobalt T60 machine

1. Head

2. Collimator

3. Gantry

4. Patient support assembly

5. Main frame

6. Control console

Uses?

Cobalt-60 therapy can be used anywhere

on the body. It is particularly useful in brain

tumor patients because it is so precise.

Because of its effectiveness and simple

design, doctors have used cobalt-60

therapy to treat cancer for almost 60 years.

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