Postmortem tissue contents of {sup 241}Am in a person with a massive acute exposure

Journal Article · Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1995 · Health Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1097/00004032-199509000-00002· OSTI ID:237269

McInroy, J F ^[1]; Kathren, R L ^[2]; Toohey, R E ^[2]

---

1. Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
2. Washington State Univ., Richland, WA (United States)

{sup 241}Am was determined radiochemically in the tissues of USTUR Case 246, a 76-y-old man who died of cardiovascular disease 11 y after massive percutaneous exposure following a chemical explosion in a glove box. This worker was treated extensively with a chelation drug, DTPA, for over 4 y after exposure. The estimate {sup 241}Am deposition at the time of death was 540 kBq, of which 90% was in the skeleton, 5.1% in the liver, and 3.5% in muscle and fat. Among the soft tissues, the highest concentrations were observed in liver (22 Bq g{sup -1}), certain cartilaginous structures such as the larynx (15 Bq g{sup -1}) and the red marrow (9.7 Bq g{sup -1}), as compared with the mean soft tissue concentration of approximately 1 Bq g{sup -1}. Concentration in muscle was approximately that of the soft tissue average, while concentrations in the pancreas, a hilar lymph node and fat were less than the average. Concentrations in bone ash were inversely related to the ratio of ash weight to wet weight a surrogate for bone volume-to-surface ratio. the distribution of activity in this case is reasonable consistent with that observed in another human case, when allowance is made for chelation therapy, and also tends to support more recent models of {sup 241}Am metabolism. 26 refs., 2 figs., 4 tabs.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 237269
• Journal Information: Health Physics, Vol. 69, Issue 3; Other Information: PBD: Sep 1995
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

56 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
APPLIED STUDIES
AMERICIUM 241
TISSUE DISTRIBUTION
INHALATION
SKIN ABSORPTION
MAN
BIOLOGICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
HANFORD RESERVATION
RADIATION ACCIDENTS
DOSIMETRY
LIVER
NEOPLASMS
OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE
NITRIC ACID
AUTOPSY
CHELATING AGENTS
CONTAMINATION
BODY BURDEN
ACUTE EXPOSURE
LARYNX
LYMPH
PANCREAS
SKELETON
BIOLOGICAL LOCALIZATION
RADIONUCLIDE KINETICS