An evaluation of the situation of the country’s nuclear medicine department and the use of radioactive resources in Vietnam was implemented. Currently Vietnam has 200 equipments for X-ray generation, 28 radioactive resoureces; 7 centres and 22 facilities of the nuclear medicine which served millions patients everyear. This study also evaluated the networks of X-ray machines and other related medical equipment. From which the orientation and solutions for use of the radioactive resources and radioactive safety in Vietnam were recommendated
Elements, Radioactive ; Milieu Therapy

During 5 years, from 1993 to 1997, we have treated 1042 cases of hemangioma of the skin, most of the patients are children under 1 year old. 70% of patients are the girls and 2/3 of them live in Ho Chi Minh city, almost in the 1st, Binh Thanh, Go Vap district. In 83.5% of cases, the hemangioma were seen at the time of birth, and appear on the 1st or the 2nd child of family. More than 84% of patients have only one lesion, and about half of them are on the head and neck region of the body. The tuberous form are more than the plane form. The mean time of treatment was 5 months with the average dose of 160 Gy, we got a good result on 94.8% of cases, with very small complications, and very rare recurrent cases. This is oldest but efficiently method for the treatment of the superficial Hemangioma of the children. It still has a big disadvantage: the treatment time is very long, makes difficulty to the children going everyday to hospital for the treatment
Hemangioma ; Elements, Radioactive

20 X-ray Departments of hospitals in the north, centre and south of Vietnam and base of nutural radiation in those areas were examinated. The results have shown that the working places of health staffs were well protected, but X-ray level in some waiting places of patients were higher than allowed limitation because of poor protection. The X-ray were not penetrated in to the next rooms because the wall and ceiling were well protected
X-Rays ; Elements, Radioactive ; Safety

Lung cancer has high mortality and incidence rates. The leading causes of lung cancer are smoking and radon exposure. Indeed, the World Health Organization (WHO) has categorized radon as a carcinogenic substance causing lung cancer. Radon is a natural, radioactive substance; it is an inert gas that mainly exists in soil or rock. The gas decays into radioactive particles called radon progeny that can enter the human body through breathing. Upon entering the body, these radioactive elements release α-rays that affect lung tissue, causing lung cancer upon long-term exposure thereto. Epidemiological studies first outlined a high correlation between the incidence rate of lung cancer and exposure to radon progeny among miners in Europe. Thereafter, data and research on radon exposure and lung cancer incidence in homes have continued to accumulate. Many international studies have reported increases in the risk ratio of lung cancer when indoor radon concentrations inside the home are high. Although research into indoor radon concentrations and lung cancer incidence is actively conducted throughout North America and Europe, similar research is lacking in Korea. Recently, however, studies have begun to accumulate and report important data on indoor radon concentrations across the nation. In this study, we aimed to review domestic and foreign research into indoor radon concentrations and to outline correlations between indoor radon concentrations in homes and lung cancer incidence, as reported in ecological studies thereof. Herein, we noted large differences in radon concentrations between and within individual countries. For Korea, we observed tremendous differences in indoor radon concentrations according to region and year of study, even within the same region. In correlation analysis, lung cancer incidence was not found to be higher in areas with high indoor radon concentrations in Korea. Through our review, we identified a need to implement a greater variety of statistical analyses in research on indoor radon concentrations and lung cancer incidence. Also, we suggest that cohort research or patient-control group research into radon exposure and lung cancer incidence that considers smoking and other factors is warranted.
Cohort Studies ; Elements, Radioactive ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Europe ; Human Body ; Incidence ; Korea ; Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung* ; Miners ; Mortality ; North America ; Odds Ratio ; Radon* ; Respiration ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Soil ; World Health Organization