Cross-sectional quantitative electroencephalogram (qEEG) study (1996-2001) among Chernobyl accident survivors, who had confirmed acute radiation sickness and were irradiated in dose of 1-5 Gy, revealed the neurophysiological markers of ionizing radiation. Neuropsychological markers were: left fronto-temporal dominant frequency reduction; absolute delta-power lateralization to the left (dominant) hemisphere; relative delta-power increase in the fronto-temporal areas; absolute theta-power decrease in the left temporal region; absolute and relative alpha-power diffusive decrease, which may reflect cortico-limbic dysfunction lateralized to the left, dominant hemisphere, with the fronto-temporal cortical and hippocampal damage. Quantitative electroencephalogram proposed for differentiation of radiation and nonradiation brain damages and as a new biological dosymetry method. High radiosensitivity of the brain, neocortex, and dominant hemisphere higher radiosensitivity are discussed.
Prospective conventional EEG study was carried out 3-5 and 10-13 years after the Chernobyl accident (1986) in patients who had acute radiation sickness and in emergency workers in 1986 ("liquidators"). Control groups comprised healthy volunteers; veterans of the Afghanistan war with posttraumatic stress disorder; veterans with mild traumatic brain injury; and patients with dyscirculatory encephalopathy. In 3-5 years after irradiation, there were irritated EEG changes with paroxysmal activity shifted to the left frontotemporal region (cortical-limbic overactivation) that were transformed 10-13 years after irradiation toward a low-voltage EEG pattern with excess of fast (beta) and slow (delta) activity together with depression of alpha and theta activity (organic brain damage with inhibition of the cortical-limbic system). Quantitative EEG is likely to be very informative for investigation of dose-effect relationships.
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