Disease relevance of radium

• Analysis of lifetime studies of 243 beagles with skeletal burdens of radium-226 shows that the distribution of bone cancers clusters about a linear function of the logarithms of radiation dose rate to the skeleton and time from exposure until death [1].
• In patients treated with radium-226 or orthovoltage x rays, an RR of 1.65 was observed for breast cancer (95% CI = 1.26-2.13) and an RR of 2.73 was found for soft tissue tumors (95% CI = 1.18-5.38) [2].
• Random, and odorless and invisible gas and a decay product of radium 226, has long been known to cause lung cancer [3].
• Afterloading techniques were developed for the in vivo assessment of the RBE of californium-252 with respect of radium-226 using a fibrosarcoma in mice [4].
• Bone sarcoma characteristics and distribution in beagles injected with radium-226 [5].

High impact information on radium

• Age-adjusted, sex-specific, cancer incidence rates were determined for these towns for the years 1969-1978 (excluding 1972) and related to the mean level of radium-226 in the municipal water supply [6].
• The hazard ratio of leukemia for uranium was 0.91 (95% confidence interval 0.73-1.13) per Bq/L. for radon 0.79 per Bq/L (95% CI 0.27-2.29), and for radium-226 0.80 (95% CI 0.46-1.39) per Bq/L [7].
• A comparison of bone tumor types in the radium-224 patients and bone sarcoma after incorporation of radium-226 and radium-228 and external irradiation and in tumors arising at sites of pre-existing bone lesions showed the same spectrum of tumors [8].
• These patients are compared with a historical group of 110 patients treated with intracavitary low-dose-rate radium 226 or cesium 137 brachytherapy with or without external beam therapy [9].
• Predictions derived from a power function model have suggested that if the time scale of the food-chain transfer is less than six years in fish, radium-226 equilibrium will not be achieved in nature, thereby violating the equilibrium requirement in the concentration factor model [10].

Biological context of radium

• The volcanic eruptions in 1980-1982 contributed to the radium-226 and uranium levels at the higher altitudes [11].
• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) proposed drinking water standard for radium-226 (226Ra) of 5 pCi/l is evaluated according to its health basis and carcinogenic implications [12].
• Radium-226 body burden in U miners by measurement of Rn in exhaled breath [13].

Associations of radium with other chemical compounds

• Naturally occurring radium-226 and radium-228 in water supplies of Michigan [14].
• Brachytherapy was given in either 2 or 3 LDR radium 226 implants for the earlier patient cohort, and 3-6 HDR iridium 192 implants for the latter cohort [15].
• Levels of natural radionuclides, such as thorium-232 (232Th), radium-226 (226Ra) and potassium-40 (40K), were determined in about 2,000 samples of imported mineral substances using gamma spectrometry [16].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of radium

• Radium-226 sources were used in 12,821 patients, x-ray therapy was used in 2,515 patients, and no radiotherapy was given to 2,694 patients [2].
• Radium-226 concentrations were measured by isotope dilution for smaller sample sizes (100-500 mg) containing as little as 1-10 fg of total 226Ra with similar high precision [17].
• Cancer incidence in the Dalgety Bay area of Fife, Scotland, was examined following the detection of radium-226 particles by routine radiation monitoring [18].
• The advantages and precise details of each stage of the technique will be described and compared with large series in which radium 226 is utilized and results of curietherapy will be compared with other modalities of treatment employed under similar circumstances for similar patient groups [19].
• Assessment of radium-226 in two cases of radium luminizers using whole-body counting [20].

References