Liver diseases in patients injected with /sup 224/Ra

Journal Article · Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 EST 1979 · Environ. Res.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5388260

Spiess, H ^[1]; Mays, C W

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1. Universitaet, Munich, Germany

Nine-hundred patients (682 adults and 218 juveniles) have been followed an average of about 20 years since repeated injections, totaling an average of 18 ..mu..Ci /sup 224/Ra/kg, were given for the treatment of tuberculosis, ankylosing spondylitis, and other diseases. Although injected /sup 224/Ra concentrates mainly in bone, an appreciable fraction of the 3.62-day /sup 224/Ra and its daughters decay in the liver. However, the liver dose in rad to the /sup 224/Ra patients is very much less than that of the Thorotrast patients. Chronic liver diseases, mostly cirrhosis, are known in 20 /sup 224/Ra cases, 18 of them injected as adult men. Two liver cancers have occurred, one hepatic cell carcinoma and one bile duct carcinoma, but this is similar to the naturally expected incidence. The lack of excess liver cancers in the /sup 224/Ra patients is in sharp contrast to the high incidence, about 5%, reported for the Thorotrast patients. Most of the difference may be due to the much higher liver doses in the Thorotrast patients, but part might be due to the promoting effect of continuous ..cap alpha..-irradiation from the Thorotrast, in contrast to the limited period of ..cap alpha..-irradiation from /sup 224/Ra injections, averaging 6 months in adults and 11 months for the juveniles.

• OSTI ID: 5388260
• Journal Information: Environ. Res.; (United States), Vol. 18:1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
BONE TISSUES
DELAYED RADIATION EFFECTS
DIGESTIVE SYSTEM DISEASES
RADIOINDUCTION
LIVER
NEOPLASMS
RADIOTHERAPY
SIDE EFFECTS
RADIUM 224
TOXICITY
BIOLOGICAL LOCALIZATION
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
PATIENTS
RADIONUCLIDE ADMINISTRATION
THOROTRAST
ACTINIDE COMPOUNDS
ALKALINE EARTH ISOTOPES
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
BIOLOGICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
BODY
CHALCOGENIDES
COLLOIDS
CONNECTIVE TISSUE
CONTRAST MEDIA
DAYS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
DISEASES
DISPERSIONS
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
GLANDS
HEAVY NUCLEI
ISOTOPES
MEDICINE
NUCLEAR MEDICINE
NUCLEI
ORGANS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RADIATION EFFECTS
RADIOCOLLOIDS
RADIOISOTOPES
RADIOLOGY
RADIUM ISOTOPES
THERAPY
THORIUM COMPOUNDS
THORIUM OXIDES
TISSUES
560171* - Radiation Effects- Nuclide Kinetics & Toxicology- Man- (-1987)
550601 - Medicine- Unsealed Radionuclides in Diagnostics
551000 - Physiological Systems