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Updated: Sep 16, 2025

Irradiator Commissioning and Dosimetry for Assessment of LQ α and β Parameters, Radiation Dosing Schema, and in vivo Dose Deposition
Published on: March 11, 2021
A Breakthrough on Modeling Cancer Prevention and Elimination by Low Radiation Doses
1Lovelace Biomedical Research Institute, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
Background:
Previously the author was unable to develop a formal mathematical characterization of his probability-based hormetic relative risk (HRR) model for cancer prevention/elimination by absorbed doses (D) of ionizing radiation in the hormetic zone where D < D t (population absorbed dose threshold for cancer induction).
Objective:
To develop a formal mathematical characterization of the HRR model's disease prevention function DPF(D), which is the cancer prevention/elimination probability.
Approach:
Use distributed (over a population) individual-specific, natural-defenses-enhancing (E) and suppressing (S) dose thresholds.
Results:
DPF(D) is now mathematically characterized based on Weibull-type E and S thresholds distributions. The E thresholds predominate at very low radiation doses and the S thresholds predominate at higher doses just below D t. This leads to a hormetic dose-response relationship for cancer relative risk RR(D) (= 1 - DPF(D)) for doses from zero (representing natural background radiation exposure) to dose D t. The greatly improved HRR model is quite flexible and was applied to lung cancer and reticulum cell sarcoma prevention/elimination data from a study involving more than 15 000 gamma-ray exposed mice.
Conclusion:
The System of Radiological Protection needs to be updated to account for health benefits rather than invalid LNT-hypothesis-based phantom radiation-caused cancers from radiation doses < D t.
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