In a hypothetical radiological accident in the nuclear weapons industry, a worke

Question

In a hypothetical radiological accident in the nuclear weapons industry, a worker receives doses to specific parts of her anatomy of the order 10.000 Gy The patient is observed to survive the accident - with proper medical care - for many months Given that a lethal whole body dose is about 4 Gy, how can you explain this patient's survival given that her dose is about 1000 times higher than the lethal dose? Explain in 4 - 5 sentences. Parts of her skin received a dose of 4.5 Gy. What clinical effects can you expect in this area of the skin? Explain in 2 - 3 sentences. Another part of her skin received a dose of 45 Gy. What clinical effects do you expect to observe in these areas? Explain in 2 - 3 sentences.

Explanation / Answer

Answer:

(2) (a) Although the whole body lethal dose is about 4 Gy, organ specific lethal doses are much higher. For example, a therapeutic dose of >70 Gy for Trismus treatment on patients have varying degrees of impact on the quality of life lead. Similarly, patients treated for parotid glands with a dose higher than 40 Gy recovers the saliva production capability within 24 months. Though the exposed dose in the present case is much higher, tissue/organ specific considerations and improved quality of medical management of the patient most probably lead to her survial.

(b) With a dose of 4.5 Gy on the skin, the following effects may be observed:

(i) Erythema: Prompt reddening of the skin may be observed

(iii) Epilation: The parts of the skin may loose hair due the high radiation exposure

(c) Above a radiation dose of 45 Gy, initial reddening of the skin may be observed (erythema). The exposed skin starts to loose the basal cells reaching maximum at 21 days. This is accompanied by vasodilation. Following the next couple of weeks, the rate of mitosis increases linearly and complete regeneration of the epidermis takes place during this period.

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