The Late Effects of Internally-Deposited Radioactive Materials in Man

Radium in humans: A review of U.S. studies

“…In a study of 30 radium cases, Aub et al (1952) summarized their clinical findings as "bone changes of a destructive and reactive nature, spontaneous fractures, loss of teeth, necrosis and osteomyelitis of the maxillae, mandible, or temporal bone, and tumors of bone or surrounding tissues." The authors reported that three of their patients had epidermoid carcinomas of the nasopharynx, a new finding for patients with internally deposited radium.…”

“…The living patients in this study had been exposed to radium at least 25 years earlier, while the deceased individuals had survived at least 15 years and some more than 25 years after exposure. Aub et al (1952) mentioned the long life span of their patients relative to those in the Martland series. Noting that in many patients the first symptom was osteomyelitis of the jaw or loss of many teeth, they speculated that dental hygiene might have been an important factor in determining whether and when jaw disease occurred.…”

“…There, with Dr. Joseph Aub from Boston, Evans continued to work with dial painters, developing the technique that permitted the body content of radium to be determined by summing the exhaled radon fraction and the fraction of radon that decayed within the body. The latter fraction was measured by detecting, with a Geiger counter, the gamma rays emitted from within the body (Evans 1937;Evans and Aub 1937;Aub et al 1952). …”

“…After the formation of the AEC in 1946, the laboratory at MIT received continual support from this source for its radium work. Within a few years, a paper was published that reviewed in detail 30 patients who had carried internally deposited radium for many years (Aub et al 1952). Among Evans's contributions to this manuscript was a large section on the physical and chemical properties of radium and mesothorium, describing the decay of mesothorium ( 228 Ra) and its daughter products and showing their contributions to the total activity in a patient as a function of the age of the material.…”

Mechanisms of Radiation Carcinogenesis at the Clinical Level

“…Petit, Chamness and Ackerman (1954) discussed fibrosarcoma in the deep connective tissues following external radiation therapy in three patients, but none was related to radiation injury to bone. Raventos et al (1960) Aub, Evans, Hempelmann, and Martland (1952), Looney (1960) Ashton, 1958S). While these appear most frequently in the fifth decade of life, a case was recorded in a 13-year-old child.…”