An apparatus for sterilizing a blood vessel in a patients inner skin includes a generator for providing gaseous radioisotope and a chamber adapted to exposure of a portion of a patients body to the gaseous radioisotopes. When a patient is contacted with gaseous radioisotopes, alpha and beta particles are emitted from the gaseous radioisotopes into inner skin of the patient. Ultraviolet rays, subsequently emitted from the skin, sterilize viruses or bacteria present in a blood vessel. A method of treating a patient with the apparatus is also provided.
