Final answer:
Increasing beam restriction in medical imaging does indeed reduce the amount of radiation exposure to the patient, as it limits scatter and focuses the beam on the area of interest. Similarly, using isotopes with short half-lives helps limit radiation dose since they decay more rapidly and expose the patient to radiation for a shorter duration.
Step-by-step explanation:
True, increasing beam restriction will reduce patient dose. This is because when you restrict the beam, less radiation is scattered into tissues outside the area of interest. This reduces the amount of radiation exposure to the patient. In medical imaging, employing isotopes with short half-lives contributes to limiting the radiation dose, as they decay more quickly and, therefore, reduce the time during which the patient is exposed to radiation. These measures correspond to overall radiation safety practices which include using shielding, increasing distance from the radiation source, and reducing exposure time to minimize patient and operator dose during diagnostic procedures.In radiation therapy, other techniques like using a narrow beam from multiple directions converging at a tumor site (therapeutic ratio) may be utilized to enhance the dose at the target while minimizing exposure to surrounding healthy tissues, although these practices are less common due to the higher costs involved.