Evaluation and Characterization of Optical Radiation Sources in Medical Diagnosis and Treatment

Abstract

Skin cancer, other related skin effects and vision impairment which can occur as result of exposure to optical radiations have been a source of major concern to the UK Government, European Union and the world at large. To combat this negative health related issues, professional organizations and scientist in various institutions and research centre have investigated the level of contribution of optical radiation to global health threats using different radiometry techniques. The goal has always been to drastically reduce occupational exposure to a barest minimum, but methods adopted by most researchers in the past are not adequate. This project work seeks to characterize the optical radiation sources by considering the geometry of the optical radiation source and the detector as well as the distance between them. The level of risk associated with the optical radiation sources at various distances was found to be increasing with increasing distances for extended sources and decreasing with increasing distances for point sources. The optical sources investigated appear to be safe in normal operation except for Bilurubin lamp and Dental curing lights. The control measures to reduce the risk associated with these sources were presented.

Keywords: optical radiation, spectroradiometer, radiation source, skin cancer, occupational exposure