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PubMed · 7642422

A radiation overdose incident: initial data.

L Cohen·T E Schultheiss·R C Kennaugh
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Abstract

PURPOSE: To estimate tolerance limits for irradiated human tissues by evaluating reactions observed in 426 patients who had received significant overdoses from an improperly calibrated cobalt unit. METHODS AND MATERIALS: A data file was designed to store essential technical and dosimetric information sufficient to analyze the response, estimate complication rates, and derive dose-response functions, using hierarchical region, system, and organ coding protocols. RESULTS: A total of 795 discrete target tissues had been irradiated in 426 evaluable subjects studied. In 183 patients who survived beyond 1 year, there were 62 (34%) with immediate severe complications in 386 irradiated sites including brain, spinal cord, skin, oropharyngeal mucosa, colon, and rectum. CONCLUSION: This unique data set includes responses to high doses and unusual fractionation beyond the range of conventional clinical experience. It provides a resource for estimating human tissue tolerance limits, for testing clinically relevant radiobiological models and for developing new optimization algorithms.

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CobaltDose-Response Relationship, RadiationFemaleFollow-Up StudiesHumansIncidenceMaleNeoplasmsRadiation InjuriesRadiation ToleranceJournal ArticleResearch Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

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L Cohen, T E Schultheiss, R C Kennaugh. 1995-08-30. A radiation overdose incident: initial data.. https://doi.org/10.1016/0360-3016(95)00089-h

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