ESTIMATES OF ABSORBED DOSE IN DIFFERENT ORGANS IN CHILDREN TREATED WITH RADIUM FOR SKIN HEMANGIOMAS

Between 1930 and 1959, more than 10,000 infants were treated at Radium hemmet, Stockholm, with radium (Ra-226) needles and/or tubes for heman gioma of the skin. Absorbed dose to the brain, eye lenses, parotid gla nds, thyroid gland, breast anlage, lungs, stomach, intestine, ovaries, testicles and bone marrow were calculated for each individual. The me an absorbed dose to the different organs ranged from 0.06 to 0.48 Gy. The highest absorbed dose was given to the breast (maximum 47.7 Gy). T here was a wide dose range for each organ which was due mainly to diff erences in the distance between the applicator and the organ. The abso rbed dose to all organs decreased on average by 32% during the study p eriod. This was due to a 25% decrease in the treatment time and a chan ge in the distribution of the treatment sites.