PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

L H Hempelmann

Publications and source records attributed to L H Hempelmann.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1985

A 37-year medical follow-up of Manhattan Project Pu workers.

Twenty-six male subjects, who worked with Pu during World War II under extraordinarily crude conditions, have been given medical examinations periodically over the past 37 y to identify potential health effects. Inhalation was the primary mode of the Pu exposures. Current estimates of the systemic Pu depositions in these individuals range from 2 to 95 nCi with a mean of 26 nCi. Seven individuals have depositions of 40 nCi or more, often considered the lifetime maximum permissible body burden for workers. Two individuals have died compared to 6.6 expected deaths based on U.S. adjusted rates for white males. The causes of death were myocardial infarction and accidental trauma. Examinations completed in 1981-82 revealed no cases of cancer in the group except for a history of skin cancers in three individuals. The diseases and physical changes noted in these individuals are characteristic of a male population in their upper 50s or 60s. This study yields no evidence suggesting that adverse health effects have resulted from the 37 y of exposure to internally deposited Pu.

Aged↗
PubMed1985

Risk of extrathyroid tumors following radiation treatment in infancy for thymic enlargement.

Two thousand eight hundred and fifty-six individuals who received X-ray treatments in infancy for an enlarged thymus gland and their 5053 nonirradiated siblings have been followed prospectively since 1953 to evaluate the risk of radiation-induced neoplastic disease. The health status of the entire cohort has been ascertained periodically by mail questionnaire survey. Based on the cumulative experience of five surveys of this cohort, the irradiated group has a statistically significant increased risk for both benign and malignant extrathyroid tumors, the age-adjusted relative risks being 2.0 and 2.2, respectively. Benign tumors of the bone, nervous system, salivary gland, skin, and breast (females only) and malignant tumors of the skin and breast (females only) account for the excess incidence of extrathyroid tumors among the thymic-irradiated individuals. Although a radiation-induced excess of extrathyroid tumors was suggested in an earlier survey of this cohort, small numbers restricted attribution of this excess to specific sites. The implications of these findings are discussed. Thyroid tumors are addressed in a separate paper.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

Screening for breast cancer in a high-risk series.

A unique cohort of women at increased risk of breast cancer because of prior X-ray treatment of acute mastitis and their selected high-risk siblings were offered periodic breast cancer screening including physical examination of the breasts, mammography, and thermography. Twelve breast cancers were detected when fewer than four would have been expected based on age-specific breast cancer detection rates from the National Cancer Institute/American Cancer Society Breast Cancer Demonstration Detection Projects. Mammography was positive in all cases but physical examination was positive in only three cases. Thermography was an unreliable indicator of disease. Given the concern over radiation-induced risk, use of low-dose technique and of criteria for participation that select women at high risk of breast cancer will maximize the benefit/risk ratio for mammography screening.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

The pathology of breast cancer in women irradiated for acute postpartum mastitis.

The gross and microscopic pathology of breast cancers in women irradiated for acute postpartum mastitis was compared to the breast cancers found in the sisters of the irradiated women. Fifty-one cancers in 50 irradiated women and 25 cancers in 24 nonirradiated women were examined. In considering the lesions in the two populations, the size, location, histologic type, histologic grade, inflammatory response, lymphatic and blood vascular invasion, nipple involvement, axillary lymph node metastases, and menopausal status at the time of diagnosis were statistically indistinguishable. The only parameter that was different in the two populations was the desmoplastic response to the malignant lesion (P = 0.04). The control population had more marked fibrosis within the cancers compared with the irradiated women. With the exception of stromal response, this study shows that breast cancer in irradiated women is similar in the parameters evaluated to breast cancer in a control population.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1977

Breast neoplasms in women treated with x-rays for acute postpartum mastitis.

Breast cancer has been studied by mail survey up to 34 years in 571 of 606 women treated with x-rays for acute postpartum mastitis. The incidence of neoplasms was compared with that of three nonirradiated control groups--nonirradiated sisters of the treated women, women with acute postpartum mastitis not treated with X-rays, and their nonirradiated sisters. For the irradiated group, with mean dose of 247 rads to both breasts, the overall relative risk of breast cancer was 2.2 for years 10-34 post irradiation and 3.6 for years 20-34. The dose response for malignant and benign breast neoplasms was compatible with a linear fit. For comparable total doses, fractionation of exposure did not reduce carcinogenic action. Women over age 30 years at radiation treatment had as great an excess risk of breast cancer as did younger women. The overall excess risk of developing breast cancer was about 8-10 cases per million women per rad per year, an increase of about 0.5% per rad.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Neoplasms in persons treated with x-rays in infancy: fourth survey in 20 years.

The incidence of neoplastic disease was determined by a mail survey of 2,872 young adults given X-ray treatments in infancy and of their 5,005 nonirradiated siblings. Newly diagnosed benign and malignant neoplasms appeared more frequently in the irradiated subjects than in their siblings or the age- and sex-matched general population of upstate New York. Only thyroid neoplasms occurred in sufficient numbers to permit statistical analysis for the effects on incidence of sex, age, and dose, and of being in a high-risk group (sub-group C). Thyroid cancers developed earlier in life than did benign neoplasms, especially in boys; benign goiters occurred after smaller doses, predominantly in females. Females had a greater risk of developing thyroid cancer than males--2,3 times for females of all ages and 5 times for young adults. Except for young adult females, there was no definite age effect. The risk of cancer (but not of benign goiter) was proportional to the thyroid dose, with a linear risk coefficient of 2.5/year/million people exposed to 1 rad for the entire irradiated population and 4.0 for subgroup C. The high risk of thyroid cancer in subgroup C may be the result of the high percentage of Jews, who had a 3.4-fold greater risk than non-Jews. Young adult Jewish females had a 17-fold increased risk. An incidental observation was an apparent increased incidence of asthma and rare diseases with abnormal immunologic features in the irradiated population.

Adolescent↗