The RBE of low-LET radiations

摘要

It is regrettable that Hunter and Muirhead, in their impressive review of the RBE dependence on linear energy transfer for low-LET radiations (Hunter and Muirhead 2009), failed to take mechanistic modelling into account as it provides additional reasons for the clear dependence of RBE with LET found in the radiobiological studies which they review. It also implies that the analysis of the epidemiological data made by Hunter and Muirhead is not the most appropriate for investigating a possible dependence of RBE on the LET of sparsely ionising radiations. In our opinion, this should have led them to attach much more importance to the radiobiological data and lessto the epidemiology.