Update and Extension of Release Criteria for Canine 117m Sn Treatments

ABSTRACT

Tin-117 m ( 117m Sn) is used to treat dogs with osteoarthritic joints by radiosynoviorthesis. The internal conversion and Auger electrons emitted by the 117m Sn provide the therapeutic effect. Sn-117 m also emits x rays and gamma rays, of which the most significant is 158.6 keV. Accurate information regarding the interactions of a person with a treated dog is needed to determine the person's total dose and thus regulatory compliance; i.e., a time and motion study. Prior studies have characterized the radiation field emitted by a treated dog, determined the effective dose rates to a person based on those radiation fields, and evaluated dog-human interactions. These studies have been tied together to calculate the prospective dose to the owner of a treated dog. The behavior modifications needed to comply with public dose limits were identified, and a template for written instructions limiting dose was developed. Further calculations based on the written instructions were made to determine the necessary duration of the instructions. The result is guidance that may be used by veterinary practitioners to release treated dogs in accordance with the public dose limits.

Organ Doses from Chest Radiographs in Tuberculosis Patients in Canada and Their Uncertainties in Periods from 1930 to 1969

This paper describes a study to estimate absorbed doses to various organs from film-based chest radiographs and their uncertainties in the periods 1930 to 1948, 1949 to 1955, and 1956 to 1969. Estimated organ doses will be used in new analyses of risks of cancer and other diseases in tuberculosis patients in Canada who had chest fluoroscopic and radiographic examinations in those periods. In this paper, doses to lungs, female breast, active bone marrow, and heart from a single chest radiograph in adults and children of ages 1, 5, 10, and 15 y in the Canadian cohort and their uncertainties are estimated using (1) data on the tube voltage (kV), total filtration (mm Al), tube-current exposure-time product (mA s), and tube output (mR [mA s]) in each period; (2) assumptions about patient orientation, distance from the source to the skin of a patient, and film size; and (3) new calculations of sex- and age-specific organ dose conversion coefficients (organ doses per dose in air at skin entrance). Variations in estimated doses to each organ across the three periods are less than 20% in adults and up to about 30% at younger ages. Uncertainties in estimated organ doses are about a factor of 2 to 3 in adults and up to a factor of 4 at younger ages and are due mainly to uncertainties in the tube voltage and tube-current exposure-time product.

Physical Considerations for Understanding Responses of Biological Systems to Low Doses of Ionizing Radiation: Nucleosome Clutches Constitute a Heterogeneous Distribution of Target Volumes

Humans are exposed to low doses of ionizing radiation that arise from a variety of sources. The response of biological systems to low doses of ionizing radiation depend on many factors. Some of the physical factors include distribution of the radiation sources, radiation track structure, structure and dimensions of the biological targets, temporal patterns of radiation exposure(s), absorbed dose rate and total absorbed dose. Recent discoveries suggest that assumptions regarding the structure of an important biological target, namely chromatin, may not be correct. It is now believed that chromatin fiber consists of heterogeneous groups of nucleosomes called clutches, and the distribution of clutch sizes differs between somatic cells and stem cells. This shift in paradigm may have implications for radiation target theory and its explanation of observations of clustered DNA damage.

Lymphoid and Myeloid Recovery in Rhesus Macaques Following Total Body X-Irradiation

Recovery from severe immunosuppression requires hematopoietic stem cell reconstitution and effective thymopoiesis to restore a functional immune cell repertoire. Herein, a model of immune cell reconstitution consequent to potentially lethal doses of irradiation is described, which may be valuable in evaluating potential medical countermeasures. Male rhesus macaques were total body irradiated by exposure to 6.00 Gy 250 kVp x-radiation (midline tissue dose, 0.13 Gy min), resulting in an approximate LD10/60 (n = 5/59). Animals received medical management, and hematopoietic and immune cell recovery was assessed (n ≤ 14) through 370 d post exposure. A subset of animals (n ≤ 8) was examined through 700 d. Myeloid recovery was assessed by neutrophil and platelet-related parameters. Lymphoid recovery was assessed by the absolute lymphocyte count and FACS-based phenotyping of B- and T-cell subsets. Recent thymic emigrants were identified by T cell receptor excision circle quantification. Severe neutropenia, lymphopenia, and thrombocytopenia resolved within 30 d. Total CD3+ cells μL required 60 d to reach values 60% of normal, followed by subsequent slow recovery to approximately normal by 180 d post irradiation. Recovery of CD3+4+ and CD3+8+ cell memory and naïve subsets were markedly different. Memory populations were ≥ 100% of normal by day 60, whereas naïve populations were only 57% normal at 180 d and never fully recovered to baseline post irradiation. Total (CD20+) B cells μL were within normal levels by 77 d post exposure. This animal model elucidates the variable T- and B-cell subset recovery kinetics after a potentially lethal dose of total-body irradiation that are dependent on marrow-derived stem and progenitor cell recovery, peripheral homeostatic expansion, and thymopoiesis.

The Metrology of a Rastered Spot of X Rays used in Security Screening

In recent times, ionizing radiation has been used around the world to screen persons for non-medical purposes, namely to detect bulk explosives or other contraband hidden on the body including materials not registered by metal detectors. In contrast to conventional transmission or projection imaging, backscatter and forward-scatter systems employ a "flying spot" of x rays and large-area detectors. A small spot is rastered across an individual and the Compton scatter signal collected by these detectors is quickly integrated and assigned to a pixel value in an image corresponding to the transient location of the small flying spot. These systems have been controversial due in part to possible radiation health risks, and lack of independent and accurate measurements of radiation exposures to the subjects, bystanders, and operators of such systems. In this paper we will outline the techniques and instrumentation used at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to accurately determine the incident air kerma from a swept beam of x rays. We discuss in detail the response of a large-area free-air ionization chamber under the unusual temporal and spatial radiation fields delivered by commercial scanning systems and report typical values for air kerma levels as well as estimates of air kerma rates.

New National Air-Kerma Standard for Low-Energy Electronic Brachytherapy Sources

The new primary standard for low-energy electronic brachytherapy sources for the United States is described. These miniature x-ray tubes are inserted in catheters for interstitial radiation therapy and operate at tube potentials of up to about 50 kV. The standard is based on the realization of the air kerma produced by the x-ray beam at a reference distance in air of 50 cm.

Evidence of delayed gastrointestinal syndrome in high-dose irradiated mice

The acute effects of irradiation on the gastrointestinal (GI) system are well documented, but the longer-term effects are less well known. Increased incidence of adenocarcinoma has been noted, but apart from descriptions of fibrosis, the development of other pathologies specific to survivors of acute radiation is poorly understood. Samples were taken from C57BL/6 mice irradiated with partial-body irradiation where the thorax, head, and forelimbs were shielded (i.e., sparing 40% of the bone marrow). Tissue from age-matched controls was also collected. There were clear pathological changes in the intestine associated with DEARE (Delayed Effects of Acute Radiation Exposure) at doses greater than 12 Gy, with a dose-related increase in observed pathologies. Mice maintained on the synthetic antibiotic ciprofloxacin during the acute phase (days 4 to 20), however, had a lower or delayed incidence of symptoms. After 20 d, mice developed structures similar to early adenomas. Abnormally high levels of apoptotic and mitotic cells were present in some crypts, along with the early adenomas, suggesting tissue regeneration and areas of deregulated cell turnover. Over time, there was inhibited crypt cell proliferation in animals with advanced symptoms, a blunting of the crypts and villi, and an enlargement of villus girth, with an increasingly acellular and fibrotic extracellular matrix (a characteristic that has been demonstrated previously in aging mice). Together these changes may lead to a reduced functional surface area and less motile intestine. These observations are similar to those seen in geriatric animals, suggesting a premature aging of the GI tract.

Recollections on Sixty Years of NBS Ionizing Radiation Programs for Energetic X Rays and Electrons

These recollections are on ionizing radiation programs at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) that started in 1928 and ended in 1988 when NBS became the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The independent Council on Ionizing Radiation Measurements and Standards (CIRMS) was formed in 1992. This article focuses on how measurements and standards for x rays, gamma rays, and electrons with energies above 1 MeV began at NBS and how they progressed. It also suggests how the radiation processors of materials and foods, the medical radiographic and radiological industries, and the radiological protection interests of the government (including homeland security) represented in CIRMS can benefit from NIST programs.

New National Air-Kerma-Strength Standards for (125)I and (103)Pd Brachytherapy Seeds

The new U.S. measurement standard for the air-kerma strength from low-energy photon-emitting brachytherapy seed sources is formally described in detail. This instrument-based standard was implemented on 1 January 1999, with its salient features and the implications of differences with the previous standard given only through a series of informal communications. The Wide-Angle Free-Air Chamber (WAFAC) is specially designed to realize air kerma from a single-seed source emitting photons with energies up to about 40 keV, and is now used to measure the wide variety of seeds used in prostate-cancer therapy that has appeared in the last few years. For the two (125)I seed models that have been subject to both the old and new standards, the new standard reduces the air-kerma strength by 10.3 %. This change is mainly due to the removal of the influence on the measurement of the Ti K x rays produced in the source encapsulation, a component with no clinical significance.

Limitations to Accuracy in Extracting Characteristic Line Intensities From X-Ray Spectra

The early development of quantitative electron probe microanalysis, first using crystal spectrometers, then energy dispersive x-ray spectrometers (EDXS), demonstrated that elements could be detected at 0.001 mass fraction level and major concentrations measured within 2 % relative uncertainty. However, during this period of extensive investigation and evaluation, EDXS detectors were not able to detect x rays below 1 keV and all quantitative analysis was performed using a set of reference standards measured on the instrument. Now that EDXS systems are often used without standards and are increasingly being used to analyse elements using lines well below 1 keV, accuracy can be considerably worse than is documented in standard textbooks. Spectrum processing techniques found most applicable to EDXS have now been integrated into total system solutions and can give excellent results on selected samples. However, the same techniques fail in some applications because of a variety of instrumental effects. Prediction of peak shape, width and position for every characteristic line and measurement of background intensity is complicated by variations in response from system to system and with changing count rate. However, with an understanding of the fundamental sources of error, even a total system can be tested like a "black box" in areas where it is most likely to fail and thus establish the degree of confidence that should apply in the intended application. This approach is particularly important when the microanalysis technique is applied at lower electron beam voltages where the extraction of line intensities is complicated by extreme peak overlap and higher background levels.

Survey of Industrial, Agricultural, and Medical Applications of Radiometric Gauging and Process Control

Photon and particle radiations (gamma rays, x rays, brems-strahlung, electrons and other charged particles, and neutrons) from radioactive isotopes, x-ray tubes, and accelerators are now widely used in gauging, production control, and other monitoring and metrology devices where avoidance of mechanical contact is desirable. The general principles of radiation gauges, which rely on detection of radiation transmitted by the sample, or on detection of scattered or other secondary radiations produced in the sample, are discussed. Examples of such devices currently used or at least shown to be feasible in industrial, transportation, building, mining, agricultural, medical, and other metrology situations are presented, drawing from a total of 146 selected technical and review paper reference sources here cited.

Temperature Dependence of Photocurrents Produced by X and Gamma Rays in Silicon Radiation Detectors

The temperature dependence of dc photocurrents produced by x and gamma rays in silicon radiation detectors of the n-p, p-i-n, and surface-barrier type was investigated in a temperature range between 20 and 50 °C. Photodiode photocurrents, assumed as being equal to the generated currents I g, showed a positive temperature dependence in all detectors investigated. Their temperature coefficient at 25 °C varied between +0.004 per °C and + 0.002 per °C. The temperature dependence of short-circuit currents I sc measured by a compensation method, was positive and nearly linear for n-p type detectors but nonlinear and negative for p-i-n and surface-barrier type detectors. It is shown, that this different behavior of individual detectors is due to the influence of the strongly temperature-dependent junction current I j which under the short-circuit mode is drained off the generated current I g . The junction current is a function of the internal series resistance R s and the junction resistance R j of the irradiated detector (I j = I sc R s /R j ). With increasing resistance ratio R s /R j , the current ratio I j /I g increases and the temperature coefficient αsc of the short-circuit current decreases. Temperature coefficients (αsc)25 measured in the different detectors at 25 °C and a current density 6 × 10-7 A/cm2 decreased with increasing resistance ratio from + 0.004 per °C to - 0.005 per °C. Resistance ratios R s /R j of the detectors investigated ranged between 0.01 and 0.24 approximately. Thus, (αsc)25 measured in an individual detector can be changed by changing its effective series resistance. A decrease of (αsc)25 with increasing I sc was observed in detectors with larger resistance ratios. This was apparently due to the voltage dependence of R j at higher junction voltages produced by larger short-circuit currents.