Physical Agents

Radiation and Hyperthermia

What are physical agents?

Physical agents consist of the energy and materials applied to patients or babies in the
womb. Physical agents include heat, cold, water, pressure, sound, electromagnetic
radiation, etc.
- It can affect the babies development.
What is radiation?

Radiation – energy that comes from a source and travels through space at the speed light.
This energy has an electric field and a magnetic field associated with it, and has wave-like properties. You
could also call radiation “electromagnetic waves”.

it has a negative impact on

- heart
- brain
- blood system
- hair ( loss of hair)
What radiation does to a human
Radiation can damage the DNA in our cells. High doses of radiation could also lead to
cancer later in life and death subsequently.
Irradiation can cause metabolic disorders, infectious complications, leukemia and
malignant tumors, radiation infertility, radiation cataract, radiation burn, radiation
sickness. The effects of irradiation have a stronger effect on dividing cells, and therefore
irradiation is much more dangerous for children than for adults.
How it causes an embryo
The body of the embryo and fetus has an
extremely high radiosensitivity. Irradiation
during this period, even in small doses (> 0.1
Gy), causes teratogenic effects in the form of
various malformations, mental retardation and
deformities, mutations.
Possible impact on the baby
Increased Cancer Risk
Radiation exposure before birth can increase a person's risk of getting cancer later in life.
Unborn babies are especially sensitive to the cancer-causing effects of radiation. However,
the increased risks depend on the amount of radiation to which the baby was exposed and the
amount of time that it was exposed.
During the first 2 weeks of pregnancy, the radiation-related health effect of greatest
concern is the death of the baby
The fetus is made up of only a few cells during the first 2 weeks of pregnancy. Damage to
one cell can cause the death of the embryo before the mother even knows that she is
pregnant. Of the babies that survive, however, few will have birth defects related to the
exposure, regardless of how much radiation they were exposed to.
Hyperthermia

Hyperthermia is an abnormally high body

temperature which is caused by a failure of the
heat-regulating mechanisms of the body to deal
with the heat coming from the environment.
- likely a sign of sepsis in babies
Causes of Hyperthermia
- can be caused in babies due to excessive swaddling and exposure to hot
environments
- being dehydrated
- High blood pressures
- Heart, lung, kidney diseases
- Age-related changes to the skin such as impaired blood circulation and inefficient
sweat glands.
- It is said that you have severe hyperthermia if you body temperature is above 40°c
- A baby can have a greater risk of neural tube malformations and impaired brain
development and a greater risk of neural tube malformations and impaired brain
development
symptoms of hyperthermia (in babies)
- dizziness and blurred vision
- fast breathing/heart rate
- fatigue
- hot flushed skin
- high fever
- thirst
- fainting
- it creates more risk for birth defects in the baby
By Sofiia, Asiiat, Tuleen, Aastha