Current situation investigation on the standardization of physical dose description in radiobiology researches in China / 中华放射医学与防护杂志

Objective:To understand the normative status of physical dose description in domestic radiobiology studies through literature study.Methods:According to the scoring system recommended by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and Desrosiers et al, evaluate (full Score: 10 points) the normalization of physical dosimetry description in the radiobiology-related articles published in two important journals, Chinese Journal of Radiation Oncology and Chinese Journal of Radiological Medicine and Protection, in past 5 years.Results:A total of 222 relevant articles from these two journals were included, and a median score of 5.0 was evaluated. Among them, 72.1% of the literatures scored 4.0-7.0 points, 68.0% of the literatures scored ≤5.5 points, and 18.5% scored ≤3.0 points. 90.1% and 97.7% of the literatures described " the type of ray" and " absorbed dose" , with the highest average score (0.90 and 0.98 points) respectively. The lowest average score of " dosimetry calibration" was 0 point.Conclusions:Although the most of literatures described " the type of ray" and " absorbed dose" , most other details of dosimetric parameters were not reported. Therefore, there is a deficiency in the standardized description of physical dosimetry in domestic radiobiology literatures, which may affect the reproducibility and interpretability of research result.

Bioindicators in radiation protection

Biodosimetry is the evaluation of absorbed dose using bioindicators. Among chromosomal aberrations, scoring of dicentrics from peripheral human blood has been used as gold standard for biodosimetry, although in case of large scale incidents its use presents some drawbacks. Advances in technology have led to new investigations allowing or permitting the use of new methods which not only improve this "classical" biodosimetry but permits the design of other bioindicators making possible faster analyses, particularly in events where many persons may have been exposed. This report presents an overview of some recent studies developed by the "Grupo de Estudos em Radioproteção e Radioecologia - GERAR", Nuclear Energy Department of UFPE - Brazil, involving biodosimetry.

Biodosimetria pode ser definida como a avaliação da dose absorvida individualmente usando bioindicadores. Entre as aberrações cromossômicas, a quantificação de discêntricos em sangue periférico humano tem sido usada como padrão ouro in biodosimetria, embora essa técnica possua várias limitações em casos de incidentes envolvendo um grande número de indivíduos. Os avanços tecnológicos têm proporcionado novas ferramentas de investigações, resultando no desenvolvimento de novos métodos com intuito de otimizar essa dosimetria biológica "clássica", bem como na descoberta de novos bioindicadores, com o objetivo de possibilitar avaliação de exposição individual de forma mais rápida, em particular em situações envolvendo grande número de indivíduos expostos. Este texto apresenta um breve relato de alguns dos estudos desenvolvidos pelo Grupo de Estudos em Radioproteção e Radioecologia - GERAR, do Departamento de Energia Nuclear da UFPE - Brasil, associados ao emprego dos "clássicos" e novos bioindicadores em biodosimetria.

Diagnosis and Treatment of Local Radiation Injury

The prognosis and medical handling of individuals exposed to external radiation depend upon whether the whole body has been exposed, or the exposure was localized. It is very important for the prognosis and choice of treatment to know how the absorbed dose has been distributed within the body. The dose distribution depends on the condition of exposure and the circumstances of the accident. Local radiation injury (LRI) is much more frequent than whole body exposure (WBE) and hence described in detail in a variety of literature. LRI caused by high doses of radiation (> or = 8~10 Gy) produces signs and symptoms similar to a thermal burn except for the striking delay in the onset of clinical changes, from several days to a week or longer. The severity of LRI depends not only on the dose and type of radiation, but also on the location and size of the area exposed. In general, the higher the dose received, the more rapid the development of pathological symptoms and the more severe the prognosis. Therefore, diagnosis and prognosis should be based upon various parameters, besides the clinical observation, such as dosimetry, reconstruction of the accident, thermography, scintigraphy, etc.