Effects of field size on the reaction of pig skin to single doses of X rays

Criticism levelled at the paper by Hopewell and Young (1982a), in which they assert that the skin radiation reaction is not dependent on field size, does not detract from its merit in stimulating a debate on important problems in radiobiology. They implicitly absolve the clinicians from not putting into radiotherapeutic practice their conclusions, but these impinge on fundamental processes in living tissues exposed to ionising radiations and problems of radiation protection.