TY  - JOUR
A1  - Maier, Andreas
A1  - Wiedemann, Julia
A1  - Rapp, Felicitas
A1  - Papenfuß, Franziska
A1  - Rödel, Franz
A1  - Hehlgans, Stephanie
A1  - Gaipl, Udo Sebastian
A1  - Kraft, Gerhard
A1  - Fournier, Claudia
A1  - Frey, Benjamin
T1  - Radon exposure - therapeutic effect and cancer risk
T2  - International Journal of Molecular Sciences
N2  - Largely unnoticed, all life on earth is constantly exposed to low levels of ionizing radiation. Radon, an imperceptible natural occurring radioactive noble gas, contributes as the largest single fraction to radiation exposure from natural sources. For that reason, radon represents a major issue for radiation protection. Nevertheless, radon is also applied for the therapy of inflammatory and degenerative diseases in galleries and spas to many thousand patients a year. In either case, chronic environmental exposure or therapy, the effect of radon on the organism exposed is still under investigation at all levels of interaction. This includes the physical stage of diffusion and energy deposition by radioactive decay of radon and its progeny and the biological stage of initiating and propagating a physiologic response or inducing cancer after chronic exposure. The purpose of this manuscript is to comprehensively review the current knowledge of radon and its progeny on physical background, associated cancer risk and potential therapeutic effects.
KW  - radon therapy
KW  - low doses
KW  - α-particles
KW  - clinical studies
KW  - anti-inflammatory effects
KW  - changes immune activation
KW  - osteoimmunological changes
Y1  - 2020
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/57485
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-574854
SN  - 1422-0067
SN  - 1661-6596
VL  - 22.2021
IS  - Article 316
PB  - MDPI
CY  - Basel
ER  -