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Title: Evaluation of intakes of transuranics influenced by chelation therapy

Conference ·
OSTI ID:10123790

Once an intake of transuranics occurs, there are only three therapeutic procedures available to the physician for reducing the intake and mitigating the dose: excision of material from wounds, removal of material from the lungs with lavage, and chelation therapy. The only chelation agents approved in the United States for the treatment of occupational intakes of transuranics are the zinc and calcium salts of diethylene-triamine-pentaacetic acid, better known as Zn-DTPA and Ca-DTPA. In the past 35 years, approximately 3000 doses of DTPA have been administrated to over 500 individuals who had intakes of transuranics. The drug is considered to be quiet safe and has few side effects. For the internal dosimetrist, perhaps the most important aspects of chelation therapy is that if enhances the excretion rate of a transuranic and perturbs the shape of the urinary excretion curve. These perturbations last for months and are so great that standard urinary excretion models cannot be used to evaluate the intake. We review here a method for evaluating intakes of transuranics influenced by chelation therapy that has been used with some degree of success at the Savannah River Site for over 20 years.

Research Organization:
Westinghouse Savannah River Co., Aiken, SC (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC09-89SR18035
OSTI ID:
10123790
Report Number(s):
WSRC-MS-94-002; CONF-9406107-1; ON: DE94006672
Resource Relation:
Conference: 1994 Health Physics Society (HPS) summer school on internal dosimetry,Davis, CA (United States),6 Jun 1994; Other Information: PBD: [1994]
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English