Title: Radioprotective potential of some medicines used in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, to minimise the effects of the ionising radiations

Authors: M.I. Sayyed

Addresses: Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Tabuk, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia

Abstract: With increasing use of ionising radiations (in particular the gamma rays and X-rays) in medicine, many dangerous diseases may occur. Hence, it is necessary to restrict and control exposure of human beings to these radiations. In this study we have investigated the radioprotective effectiveness of some medications sold at community pharmacies in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. The data were collected and recorded for 20 drugs commonly used for different medical purposes. In order to investigate the effectiveness of these radioprotectives in terms of absorption of low and high energy photons, the effective atomic number (Z_eff) of ten drugs for total photon interaction in the energy range of 1 keV to 15 MeV using WinXCom were calculated. In addition, by Geometric-Progression (G-P) method, the energy absorption (EABF) and exposure build-up factors (EBF) for incident photon energy 0.015 MeV to 15 MeV up to penetration depths of 40 mean free paths (mfp) were calculated for the ten drugs. Among the selected compounds, Captopril and Cefixime have the maximum value of Z_eff, while the minimum EBF and EABF were found for Mesna, Cramastine, Thiotepa and Busflan; therefore, they are appealing as radioprotective compounds.

Keywords: Tabuk city; effective atomic number; build-up factor; G-P fitting; radioprotective.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNEST.2017.088066

International Journal of Nuclear Energy Science and Technology, 2017 Vol.11 No.3, pp.205 - 217

Received: 25 Oct 2016
Accepted: 07 Apr 2017
Published online: 20 Nov 2017 *

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