Radium uptake in utero

Conference · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1986

OSTI ID:6775774

Schlenker, R A; Keane, A T

A summary of information on a stillborn girl and her mother who had been a radium watch dial painter is provided. Although many dial painters bore children, this is the only example we have of simultaneous radioactivity determinations in mother and child prior to normal delivery. This case provides an opportunity to assess the degree of transfer of radium to the fetus in utero and may be unique in the study of the placental transfer of radium in humans. The mother (Case 00-009) worked at the US Radium Corporation, Orange, New Jersey, for 5 to 7 years beginning in 1918. She accumulated a substantial body burden of /sup 226/Ra and /sup 228/Ra by mouth tipping of brushes, as was then the custom in the American dial painting industry. Years later, her husband recalled that tissues inside her mouth glowed brightly in the dark and that the front of her clothing often glowed too; he described her as a rapid worker. The child (Case 01-579) was stillborn after a gestation period listed as six months on the certificate of stillbirth. The cause of death is listed as placenta previa. The mother died on the day of birth, February 24, 1928. She was 26 years old. Mother and daughter were buried in the same casket and exhumed together August 9, 1968. 12 refs., 3 tabs.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 6775774
• Report Number(s): CONF-861123-6; ON: DE87004711
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

550501 -- Metabolism-- Tracer Techniques
560161* -- Radionuclide Effects
Kinetics
& Toxicology-- Man
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ALKALINE EARTH ISOTOPES
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
ANIMALS
AUTORADIOGRAPHY
BODY
BODY BURDEN
DIAL PAINTERS
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
FETUSES
HEAVY NUCLEI
ISOTOPES
MAMMALS
MAN
NUCLEI
ORGANS
PERSONNEL
PRENATAL EXPOSURE
PRIMATES
RADIOISOTOPES
RADIUM 226
RADIUM ISOTOPES
SKELETON
VERTEBRATES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES