Læknablaðið - 01.10.1968, Page 69

LÆKNABLAÐIÐ
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OSTEOGENIC SARCOMA DEATH RATES
UNITED STATES 1920-1965
Fig. 10.
United States death rates for osteogenic sarcoma. Note decrease from
1945 on.
by the staff of the Argonne National Laboratory had
heen given many years ago water containing radon which
some (ioclors thouglit for a time had therapeutic value. Some
of these also have had late complicating effects. Indeed much
of our system of protection against radiation rests on the dose-
effect relationships tliat were worked out in these patients.21,--
It has been clearly demonstrated that in the case of radium
poisoning, the incidence of hone sarcoma increases as the dose
increases. There is some evidence, however, that in experimental
animals external radiation at intermediate dose ranges is more
effective as a carcinogen than are either very low dose ranges
or very high (Fig. 9).
One curious finding in a few of the more severe radium
poisoning cases has been that radon, a gaseous daughter product
of radium, accumulated in accessory sinuses such as the mastoid,
the sphenoid, and the maxillary. Wlien the concentration became
sufficiently great to seriously injury the epithelial cells lining
the sinuses, some became malignant thus producing carcinoma.
A number of radioactive isotopes, particularly 90strontium,