INTERNAL DOSIMETRY

Muhammad Afsar

RS-006/1

ENTRY OF RADIONUCLIDES INTO THE BODY

Before discussing the various media of internal contamination, the following words may be defined. Intake, the amount entering the nose or mouth. Uptake, the amount absorbed into extra cellular fluid. Deposition, the amount present in organ of rest.

Radio nuclides may enter the body by inhalation, ingestion, or through intact or wounded skin.

Metabolic Mechanism of Internal Contamination

INHALATION
Radioactive gases, liquids or solids may enter -the body by inhalation. Water soluble gases, e.g. those containing tritium oxide or radioiodine, are rapidly absorbed from inhaled air and thus a-pear in extra cellular fluid within a few seconds. Liquid or solid radioactive compound inhaled in the form of aerosols have a number of -possible .fates depending on their physic chemical properties. A part of that inhaled will be deposited in the respiratory tree and the remainder exhaled. The portion deposited in the upper respiratory passages may be expelled by ciliary action into the gastrointestinal tract, and the portion deposited in deeper portions of the lungs may be completely and rapidly absorbed if it is transportable.

IAEA LUNG MODEL

Readily Soluble Compounds (%) Exhaled Deposited in upper respiratory passage and subsequently swallowed. 25 Other Compounds (%)

25

50

50

Deposited in the lungs

25

*25

* of this, half is eliminated from the lungs and swallowed in the first 24 hr, making a total 62 % swallowed. The remaining 12% is retained in the lungs with a half life of 120 days, it being assumed that this portion is taken up into the body fluids

INGESTION
Where a worker ingests a radioactive substance, he will usually do so over a short time, and this constitutes a single intake to gut. Although he may have a series of such intakes, but here, only single intake is discussed. If the material is non-transportable, most of it will traverse the G.I. tract and emerge in the faeces. If the material is transportable, a significant fraction will be absorbed into extracellular fluid, mainly during its passage through the small intestine (lasting 4 hr in standard man).

ABSORPTION THROUGH SKIN

The mode of intake is fundamentally difficult from inhalation in that it usually involves a highly radioactive solution or solid being deposited beneath the skin or into muscle tissue as a result of a cut or an abrasion. Negligible amounts of plutonium are absorbed through intact human skin if it is applied as an inorganic compound in neutral solution. However, an acidic solution has shown some absorption through skin.

TRANSLOCATION AND DEPOSITION

The soluble materials are transferred from one part of the body to another through extra cellular fluid. Two examples of other methods of traps location are the movement of insoluble compounds from lungs to lymph nodes and attachment of radionuclides or their compounds to red blood cells. A portion of the radionuclide in extra cellular fluid will be excreted by kidney, liver, intestine, skin, or lung and the remainder will be deposited in any organ of its affinity.

ELIMINATION OF INTAKE/ UPTAKE OF RADIO NUCLIDES

The rate of elimination of systemic contaminant by all routes combined will follow its concentration in extra cellular fluid. Bioassay programme consists of measuring rates of excretion at various times after contamination and calculating from these the amounts retained in the body, and when possible in the various body organs, at all times until the radionuclide has disappeared from the body by excretion and radioactive decay. Elimination of radionuclide may take place by Exhalation is an important route of elimination for The undeposited portion of an inhaled aerosal Tritium oxide vapour from extra cellular fluid. Cont.

 Sweat it generally will contain any radionuclide present in blood. Urine radio nuclides excreted in urine can come only from blood. In course of excretion certain radionuclide may deliver enough radiation to the kidney. Faeces radio nuclides in faeces may come from ingestion or inhalation of a non-transportable radio nuclides into the G.I. Tract, either directly or by way of the bile. Analyses of all these products of elimination constitutes a bioassay programme.

MONITORING METHODS AND PROGRAMS

Monitoring means the acquisition of information about the contamination event, collection of samples for analysis, and measurements of radioactivity in these samples and in the whole body as well as the assessment of this information in terms of body content of radio nuclides and radiation dose to the critical organ. Following monitoring methods are carried out. Cont.

 Surface Contamination
Measurement of easily removable radionuclides on exposed surfaces in working area is useful for assessing operating conditions, but gives only a very indirect measure of potentical exposure. Radioactive gases such as Tritium oxide vapour or CH3 I (methyliodide) may not lease a radioactive deposit on exposed surfaces, and measurements, of surface contamination reveal nothing about the presence of such contaminant in air. For radioactive aerosels surface contamination may give an indication of contamination which cannot be related quantitatively to body content of radionuclide

Air Sampling
Measurement of. air born radio nuclides gives a some what more direct estimate of a worker's exposure.

Analysis of Excreta and other biological materials

Analysis of excreta and other biological wimples may be used to detect all radionuclides in the body, and in some cases may be used to estimate body content. Cont..

In analyzing biological materials for assessment of internal contamination, it is necessary to choose a sample that is most appropriate for the nuclide, its chemical and physical form, its metabolic behaviour and the route of contamination. The possibilities are: Urine, faces, breath, nasal discharge, sputum, saliva and Sweat. Body tissues such as blood and hair may also be analyzed.

URINE the most generally useful form of excretion monitoring for

an intake of soluble compounds is the assay of urine samples. One of the virtues of measuring the radionuclides content of Urine is that if a radionuclide is found in a carefully collected samp3b of urine, there can be no doubt that it was in extra cellular body fluids.

Faeces analysis is most useful in detedting intake of insoluble

material and in providing evidence of clearance of such material from lung. When it is known that a non transportable radionuclide has been inhaled, the total amount excreted in faeces during the subsequent few days can be used to estimate roughly the amount retained in the large which according to ICRP model is one fifth of that excreted in faeces. Cont.

 BREATH
If a radionuclide in the body decays to a daughter which is a noble gas ( Ra Radon, thorium thoron), the noble gas is present in exhaled air, and its concentration in breath can be used to estimate body content

NASAL DISCHARGE
The presence of radionuclides in nasal discharge and nasal swabs generally gives an indication of the deposition of coarsest inhaled particals in the nose. It is not quantitative but gives as indication of exposure and identifying the radionuclide involved in an accident.

SPUTUM
When possible, sputum may contain insoluble material initially deposited in the lung and later eliminate by ciliary action.

SALIVA, sweat analysis of Blood & hair may help also in detecting
the internal contamination and identifying the radionuclides. Of all the sample sources, first in practical importance is Urine.

MONITORING PROGRAMME
Routine monitoring, which usually consists a n analysis of urine is performed on groups of workers doing routine operationtand in whom the radionuclide content rise to excretion rates less than those corresponding to the investigation levels set by ICRP. The frequency and type of testing appropriate sample for a group of workers will depend upon. The nature of operations and particularly on the amounts and types of radionuclides being manipulated. The adequacy of. plant design and its construction for protection of workers. The ease of detection, as well as the chemical, physical and biological behaviour of the radionuclides being processed. e.g. I-131, HTO and PO are readily absorbed. For routine monitoring, in the absence of any knowledge about the occurence of a contaminating event, one usually markes the most pessimistic assumption i.e. the contamination took place on the day after collection of the immediately preceding bioassay sample.