Medical Radiology and Radiation Safety. 2014. Vol. 59. No. 4. P. 32-40

RADIATION MEDICINE

V.Yu. Soloviev, V.I. Krasnjuk, S.S. Fatkina

Acute Radiation Damages of Man Database. Part 4. Primary Reaction Regularities on Total Body Accidental Irradiation

Burnasyan Federal Medical Biophysical Center of FMBA, Moscow, Russia. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

ABSTRACT

Purpose: To study patterns of formation of the primary reaction in radiation accident victims.

Material and methods: The information contained in the acute radiation damages of man database Burnasyan FMBC FMBA of Russia was analyzed.

Results: According to the analysis of individual parameters of the primary reaction to irradiation for the victims of the Chernobyl accident in 1986 it is revealed that for the assessment of the radiation damage severity the presence of vomiting and the time of its onset are the most informative signs. It was found that irradiation with a constant dose rate average time of vomiting onset after the start of irradiation (T_p, h) is inversely proportional to the square root of the values of the dose rate (P₀, Gy/h) and satisfies T_p(P₀)= 3.15/P₀^0,5. A semi-empirical model that takes into account the rate of dose accumulation and conditions of short-term and prolonged exposure is constructed. In accordance of this model the severity degree of radiation injury is depended on two parameters – the exposure time and the time of vomiting occurrence. The dependence of the average radiation dose (D, Gy) with prolonged irradiation on the two parameters – the duration of exposure (T₀, h) under near-constant power irradiation dose and time onset of vomiting (Tр, h) was constructed, D(T₀,T_p) = 9,16(T₀/T_p²), provided that when 0,5≤T₀/T_p≤1.

Conclusions: This information can serve as a basis for decision-making in primary triage in a large-scale radiation accident, when other data are absent besides the data on the time spent in an area with high levels of radiation and the start of the reaction in the form of vomiting.

Key words: acute radiation damages, diarrhea, doses, models, irradiation, primary reactions, vomiting