To be (prepared) or not to be-that is hardly the question

High doses of ionising radiation will cause significant harm to the human body. Various kinds of medical treatment can reduce the harmful effects of a high-dose event and increase the probability of survival. But high-dose radiation events are rare, and therefore education and training regarding the symptoms and possible treatments tend to be at a disadvantage when universities plan their curriculum. The relevant textbooks are getting out-of-date. Reports describing cases, treatments, and results are scattered in widely different journals. Emergency preparedness planning rarely takes sufficient account of victims of high radiation doses. Radiological protection experts, medical physicists, and medical staff are all insufficiently educated and trained in this area. However, not only do the rare events continue to occur, but possible malevolent events could lead to high doses to many victims - and the possibility of exposures from a new nuclear weapon explosion (intentional or otherwise) cannot be excluded. This Special Issue provides a state-of-the-art overview of the medical management of radiation injuries, covering as far as possible all relevant kinds of harm and treatment. The focus is on results achieved and evidence obtained - i.e., describing the science. The intention is to satisfy the needs long felt by all kinds of radiation experts for an accessible yet reliable and accurate summary of the medical effects of ionising radiation and the current methods to manage such effects. While the Special Issue describes new research where available, the relative rarity of serious radiation accidents means that rather many of the papers are reviews rather than original research.