Medical use of Nuclear Dampener Tech

[Spartan159]

Would nuclear dampener technology be useful for radiation decontamination of living tissue, perhaps a Anti-rad booth or even something portable? I would imagine it would be in auto-doc units as well at suitable tech levels. Thoughts and/or equipment?

 

[McPerth]

Radiation can affect living tissue in two ways:

Irradiated: is when the tissue has ben subjected to radiation, but not in direct contact with radioactive material (e.g. when undergoing radiotherapy). In this case, the damage uses to be in the DNA/RNA, and, as it's already done, dampeners wil have no effect.

Contaminated: when the tissue is in direct contact with irradiating material (e.g. nuclear fallout) that keeps irradiating it. In this case, the damage already done would not be haled, but the dampeners will help to stop new damges until it is eliminated (if absorbed) or claned. Unfortunately, if absorved, most of those materials are toxic, aside from radioactive, and that will be unaffected by dampeners.

Where dampeners could be helful is in radiotherapy treatments, dad could be quite more precise (if dampeners are).

 

[mike wightman]

As McPerth has said - if the damage has been done you will need gene reconstruction treatment.

If you have ingested/inhaled a radioactive source then a damper box could be used to stop the substance being radioactive - you would then need treatment to flush the material from your body or wait for the body to purge it naturally (note that many radioactive substances are highly toxic in their own right and will poison you to death even if you nullify the radiation).

 

[Lycanorukke]

Would nuclear dampener technology be useful for radiation decontamination of living tissue, perhaps a Anti-rad booth or even something portable? I would imagine it would be in auto-doc units as well at suitable tech levels. Thoughts and/or equipment?

It wouldn't be useful for decon unless the person has injected/injected radioactive material. And it would be useless against gammas and free neutrons.

Medically however a few come to mind.

Inject a tumor with a very low radioactive substance (like the stuff we use for PET scans and the like), focus the damper on the tumor. Then flick the damper into reverse (enhance decay) and you can precisely target where the enhanced radiation appears as opposed to current methods of firing through the whole body.

A damper box would allow transport and storage of radionucletides across lon distances and indefinet storage. A large problem we have is that useful elements for radio treatment are always in high demand as they decay quickly even when not used.

Long term low berths would need it to stop the bodies natural radioactivity from damaging DNA during a long freeze.

If you are using the T-5 rules with the kinetic energy option, you can have a perfect isolation chamber. Bacteria, viiri and other microscoptic pathogens couldn't overcome the 'speed requirement' to penetrate the barrier. Useful for keeping plagues in and contminants out.

 

[nobby-w]

Would nuclear dampener technology be useful for radiation decontamination of living tissue, perhaps a Anti-rad booth or even something portable? I would imagine it would be in auto-doc units as well at suitable tech levels. Thoughts and/or equipment?

Striker has rules for decontaminating fallout from nuclear explosions using nuclear dampers. You could use a nuclear damper to remove radioactive contaminants - for example Polonium-210 poisoning of the type used on Alexander Livitchenko, or radioactive iodine ingested and concentrated in the Thyroid.

However, the real damage from radiation poisoning is when it damages DNA, causing it to synthesise toxic proteins. You would have to have tech capable of identifying damaged DNA and fixing it - cell by cell. If you had a taste for transhumanism and quasi-magic nanotech you might do this capability in your 'verse, but it's quite the engineering challenge.

 

[Spartan159]

However, the real damage from radiation poisoning is when it damages DNA, causing it to synthesise toxic proteins. You would have to have tech capable of identifying damaged DNA and fixing it - cell by cell. If you had a taste for transhumanism and quasi-magic nanotech you might do this capability in your 'verse, but it's quite the engineering challenge.

I was thinking along the line of nano tech after seeing the problems that radiation produce but the Tech Level of nanobots is beyond beyond me. Twilight's Peak mentioned a cargo of anti-rad drugs, and Mongoose has them at TL 8, absorbing rads by 100 per dose if administered before or immediately afterwards (within 10 minutes), but I don't know how they would work unless it is in fact nanobots comparing DNA/cells and repairing "broken" ones. :CoW:

 

[Lycanorukke]

but I don't know how they would work unless it is in fact nanobots comparing DNA/cells and repairing "broken" ones. :CoW:

In one of the digest publications (#15)they had a post exposure drug called 'Retrorad' aavailable at TL-11 which consisted of a tailored retro virus. The treatment had to be made _before_ exposure by taking some of the persons DNA, splicing it into the virus and then waiting for exposure. After exposure and decon, you inject the virus and it repairs DNA damage from the radiation. The downside of course was that it was expensive and had to be administered quickly after exposure.

At TL-14 you had enhanced retrorad which was a mix of anti-rad drugs (to prevent damage) and retrorad (which repaired any damage that did occur). It was injected and worked on a delayed release and would protect you for up to 7 days. Of course the cost was even more expensive (20kCr a dose)