POSTMORTEM TISSUE CONTENTS OF AM-241 IN A PERSON WITH A MASSIVE ACUTEEXPOSURE

Am-241 was determined radiochemically in the tissues of USTUR Case 246 , a 76-y-old man who died of cardiovascular disease 11 y after massive percutaneous exposure following a chemical explosion in a glove box. This worker was treated extensively with a chelation drug, DTPA, for o ver 4 y after exposure. The estimated Am-241 deposition at the time of death was 540 kBq, of which 90% was in the skeleton, 5.1% in the live r, and 3.5% in muscle and fat. Among the soft tissues, the highest con centrations were observed in liver (22 Bq g(-1)), certain cartilaginou s structures such as the larynx (15 Bq g(-1)) and the red marrow (9.7 Bq g(-1)), as compared with the mean soft tissue concentration of appr oximately 1 Bq g(-1). Concentration in muscle was approximately that o f the soft tissue average, while concentrations in the pancreas, a hil ar lymph node and fat were less than the average. Concentrations in bo ne ash were inversely related to the ratio of ash weight to wet weight , a surrogate for bone volume-to-surface ratio. The distribution of ac tivity in this case is reasonably consistent with that observed in ano ther human case, when allowance is made for chelation therapy, and als o tends to support more recent models of Am-241 metabolism.