Speleotherapeutic Radon Exposure of a Child Suffering from Juvenile Chronic Arthritis

Lettner

Hubmer

2021

IJERPH

Three therapeutic applications are presently prescribed in the radon spas in Gastein, Austria: exposure to radon in a thermal bath, exposure to radon vapor in an exposure chamber (vapor bath), and exposure to radon in the thermal gallery, a former mine. The radiological exposure pathways to human organs and tissues in these therapeutic radon applications are inhalation of radon and radon progeny via the lungs, radon transfer from water or air through the skin, and radon-progeny deposition on the skin in water or air. The objectives of the present study were to calculate radon and radon-progeny doses for selected organs and tissues for the different exposure pathways and therapeutic applications. Doses incurred in red bone marrow, liver, kidneys, and Langerhans cells in the skin may be correlated with potential therapeutic benefits, while doses to the lungs and the basal cells of the skin indicate potential carcinogenic effects. The highest organ doses among the three therapeutic applications were produced in the thermal gallery by radon progeny via inhalation, with lung doses of 5.0 mSv, and attachment to the skin, with skin doses of 4.4 mSv, while the radon contribution was less significant. For comparison, the primary exposure pathways in the thermal bath are the radon uptake through the skin, with lung doses of 334 μSv, and the radon-progeny attachment to the skin, with skin doses of 216 μSv, while the inhalation route can safely be neglected.

Section: Lung Dosimetry Model For Radon-progeny Inhalationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dosimetric Comparison of Exposure Pathways to Human Organs and Tissues in Radon Therapy

Lettner

Hubmer

2021

IJERPH

“…In the Gastein valley, Austria, natural radon-rich water in springs and radon vapor in the thermal gallery have been successfully used in the past for the treatment of various rheumatic diseases, most notably ankylosing spondylitis (Shehata et al 2006; van Tubergen et al 2001). Although the physiological and cellular mechanisms triggered by very low radiation doses resulting from the radon exposures are still not yet fully understood, several studies have proved the effectiveness of the radon treatment (Bernatzky et al 1994; Falkenbach 2000; Falkenbach et al 2005; Franke et al 2000, 2007; Mitsunobu et al 2003; Moder et al 2011). Three different main therapeutic regimes are presently used: (1) exposure to radon in a thermal bath, (2) exposure to radon and its progeny in the thermal gallery (“Gasteiner Heilstollen”), a former gold and silver mine, and (3) exposure to radon vapor in a specially designed exposure chamber (“vapor bath”) (note: inhalation of radon progeny in thermal and vapor baths play only a minor role).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radon transfer from thermal water to human organs in radon therapy: exhalation measurements and model simulations

Winkler-Heil

Lettner

et al. 2019

Radiat Environ Biophys

The transfer of radon from thermal water via the skin to different human organs in radon therapy can experimentally be determined by measuring the radon activity concentration in the exhaled air. In this study, six volunteers were exposed to radon-rich thermal water in a bathtub, comprising eleven measurements. Exhaled activity concentrations were measured intermittently during the 20 min bathing and 20 min resting phases. Upon entering the bathtub, the radon activity concentration in the exhaled breath increased almost linearly with time, reaching its maximum value at the end of the exposure, and then decreased exponentially with time in the subsequent resting phase. Although for all individuals the time-dependence of exhaled radon activity was similar during bathing and resting, significant inter-subject variations could be observed, which may be attributed to individual respiratory parameters and body characteristics. The simulation of the transport of radon through the skin, its distribution among the organs, and the subsequent exhalation via the lungs were based on the biokinetic model of Leggett and co-workers, extended by a skin and a subcutaneous fat compartment. The coupled linear differential equations describing the radon activity concentrations in different organs as a function of time were solved numerically with the program package Mathcad. An agreement between model simulations and experimental results could only be achieved by expressing the skin permeability coefficient and the arterial blood flow rates as a function of the water temperature and the swelling of the skin.

Deposition of radon progeny on skin surfaces and resulting radiation doses in radon therapy

Tempfer

Schober

et al. 2010

Radiat Environ Biophys

In the Gastein valley, Austria, radon-rich thermal water and air have been used for decades for the treatment of various diseases. To explore the exposure pathway of radon progeny adsorbed to the skin, progeny activities on the skin of patients exposed to thermal water (in a bathtub) and hot vapour (in a vapour chamber) were measured by alpha spectrometry. Average total alpha activities on the patients' skin varied from 1.2 to 4.1 Bq/cm(2) in the bathtub, and from 1.1 to 2.6 Bq/cm(2) in the vapour bath. Water pH-value and ion concentration did affect radon progeny adsorption on the skin, whereas skin greasiness and blood circulation did not. Measurements of the penetration of deposited radon progeny into the skin revealed a roughly exponential activity distribution in the upper layers of the skin. Based on the radon progeny surface activity concentrations and their depth distributions, equivalent doses to different layers of the skin, in particular to the Langerhans cells located in the epidermis, ranged from 0.12 mSv in the thermal bath to 0.33 mSv in the vapour bath, exceeding equivalent doses to the inner organs (kidneys) by inhaled radon and progeny by about a factor 3, except for the lung, which receives the highest doses via inhalation. These results suggest that radon progeny attachment on skin surfaces may play a major role in the dosimetry for both thermal water and hot vapour treatment schemes.