No, a child cannot be harmed by being around or living with someone that is receiving external radiation or any other treatment for cancer. The National Cancer Institute states that "external radiation treatment does not make you radioactive." 1 Christopher Futcher / Getty Images Radiation Cancer Treatments
Is it safe to be around children during radiation therapy?
If you have any doubt, whatsoever, you should always ask the personnel at the hospital or your own doctor. But as long as you are not dealing with internal therapy (radiation from inside the body) the patient can safely be around children and even infants and pregnant women.
Is it safe for kids to be around cancer patients?
An external source is beaming directly onto the tumor in order to destroy it. People often walk in and walk out to this kind of treatment because it takes very little time and it is completely painless. There are no risks around these patients for other people after each treatment has been completed. It’s perfectly safe for them to be around kids.
What is the age limit for radiation therapy for cancer?
And children under age 18 and pregnant women are usually not allowed to visit them in the hospital. Internal radiation therapy might be used for people with prostate cancer and some types of breast cancer, etc. Systemic radiation is another type of radiation therapy for cancer.
How safe is radiation therapy for cancer treatment?
For people who need radiation therapy to treat their cancer, special precautions are used to protect other parts of their body from exposure to radiation. Before you begin receiving radiation therapy, the cancer care team works carefully to develop an effective treatment plan that is also safe.
Does radiation treatment affect family members?
Any radiation therapy that is transient, including external beam radiation or brachytherapy that is removed, poses no risk to family members. For these types of therapy, patients are exposed to radiation only during active treatment, and radiation is not carried on the patient's body.
Is it safe to be around someone who has had radiotherapy?
Some cancer patients who receive radiation therapy worry that their bodies will become “radioactive” after they receive radiation treatment. Their concern is that close physical contact with others could expose them to radiation. “The general answer to this concern is that physical contact is fine,” Snyder says.
Can a baby be around someone with radiation?
Carolyn Vachani RN, MSN, OncoLink's Nurse Educator, responds: This is a very common concern. Patients who are receiving cancer medications pose no risk to children, pregnant women, or anyone else. Cancer treatment medications typically leave the body in urine, stool, and vomit for 48-72 hours after each treatment.
What happens if a child is exposed to radiation?
The main risk of radiation exposure is developing cancer later in life. Researchers still aren't quite sure how much radiation exposure raises your child's future risk of cancer. For most children, radiation exposure to X-rays probably only raises their risk of cancer a very small amount, if at all.