![]() ![]() There are several thousand Cobalt-60 teletherapy units in use throughout the world. The first-day cover shows a diagram of the machine as it appeared in a patent. The Picker Cobalt-60 unit was given to the Indiana University School of Medicine in 1968 by the Indiana Lions. The formula for the radioactive cobalt isotope 60CO and representations of its emitted gamma rays are shown at the left. The stamp shows a patient receiving radiation treatment for breast cancer. The machine has largely been replaced by linear accelerators, which can produce greater voltages and do not produce radioactive waste. In November 1951, following 11 weeks of machine calibration, therapy was administered to its first patient, who lived 47 more years until her death at the age of 90. The world’s first calibrated cobalt-60 cancer therapy program was developed at the University of Saskatchewan by physicist Harold Johns and his colleagues. Much more powerful and less expensive to produce than radium, this quickly became the standard of care. ![]() ![]() The emitted gamma rays had sufficient energy – 1.17 and 1.33 megavolts – to penetrate deep into human tissue and cause cancer cell death. In 1951, scientists at Atomic Energy of Canada manufactured a machine that was able to produce gamma radiation from a cobalt-60 source located deep within its reinforced head. For treatment like head, neck, esophagus which is very common side of cancer, Co-60. Among the high energy machines, Co-60 machine are the mainstay of treatments because of cost, operation and application. Linear Accelerators is also called high energy machines. Physicians started treating cancer with radiation soon after radium was discovered in 1898. Besides Co-60 machine there are other machines, example: Linear Accelerators. Canadian Innovations in Energy, Food, Research and Medicine Series: Canada Day – Science and Technology. ![]()
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