If a person receives 200 to 1000 rems, what is the likely outcome?

If a person receives 200 to 1000 rems, what is the likely outcome?

• A. No symptoms
• B. Immediate death
• C. Low probability of survival
• D. Long-term cancer risk

Answer: (C)

When the dose of radiation is very large, the body can suffer acute radiation syndrome and the chance of surviving drops significantly as dose increases. A exposure on the order of hundreds to a thousand rems (about 2 to 10 Sv for gamma radiation) means substantial damage to rapidly renewing tissues like bone marrow and the GI tract. That level of injury produces serious illness with a high risk of death, especially without immediate and intensive medical care. So the most likely outcome isn’t that there are no symptoms or that death is certain right away; it’s that survival becomes unlikely. While there is also a cancer risk in the long term, that isn’t the immediate outcome at this exposure level, where acute effects and mortality risk dominate.

When the dose of radiation is very large, the body can suffer acute radiation syndrome and the chance of surviving drops significantly as dose increases. A exposure on the order of hundreds to a thousand rems (about 2 to 10 Sv for gamma radiation) means substantial damage to rapidly renewing tissues like bone marrow and the GI tract. That level of injury produces serious illness with a high risk of death, especially without immediate and intensive medical care. So the most likely outcome isn’t that there are no symptoms or that death is certain right away; it’s that survival becomes unlikely. While there is also a cancer risk in the long term, that isn’t the immediate outcome at this exposure level, where acute effects and mortality risk dominate.