[ad_1]
A new study reveals that an Arizona crematorium has undergone a hot radioactive contamination test. The probable source is a cremated man who was treated for cancer shortly before his death.
According to Nathan Yu, lead author of the study and resident physician of the radiation oncology department at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, the medical community has long been aware of the potential risks to cremation of cancer patients treated with "radiopharmaceuticals". But the contamination of an installation has not been reported so far.
The injection of radioactive compounds is increasingly used to diagnose and treat cancer because it can be used to deliver radiation to specifically targeted tumor cells. Given their alarming findings at Arizona's crematorium, Yu and his colleagues are calling for a more systematic approach to dealing with this security problem. According to their letter published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, there are no federal rules regarding exposed corpses, hence a mosaic of state regulations. And Arizona does not currently have such rules.
The results are not surprising for Marco Kaltofen, a nuclear scientist at the Polytechnic Institute of Worcester, Massachusetts, who was not involved in the study. "They only managed to catch this case because they normally do not watch," he said.
A 69-year-old man was treated for cancer last year at the Mayo Clinic, Arizona, through a routine outpatient procedure involving the injection of radioactive compounds into the veins. Not feeling well, he went to another hospital the next day and died quickly. The place where his body was cremated was not aware of the recent cancer treatment.
When Mayo Clinic staff discovered the sudden death of their patient, he took action, including contacting the State Radiation Protection Bureau, which resulted in a crematorium investigation. Approximately one month after the man was treated with Lutetium Lu 177 dotatate, the same isotope was detected at low concentrations on the equipment used to incinerate the body, including the oven, the vacuum filter and the bone grinder.
The discovery of a radioactive contamination by lutetium "is something we were looking for," said Yu. "But there was an unexpected discovery of another radioisotope" – in particular, technetium Tc 99m in the urine of the crematorial operator – suggesting that radioactive contamination at crematoria is a more widespread problem.
Technetium is also commonly used in the treatment of cancer. Since the operator had not been exposed to medical treatment, the researchers suspect that the exposure came from the manipulation and cremation of a different body.
"Safety rules are well established for radiopharmaceuticals in living patients. But they present a unique challenge in terms of post-mortem safety, "Yu said. This is because cremation of an exposed patient can release into the air hot particles that cremation workers might inhale.
The two cases of radioactive contamination – on the cremation equipment and the operator's pee – were well below the limit defined as dangerous by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
"I think the situation described in the article is possible, but also that the likely exposures are very low," said Chris Whipple, who previously chaired the National Academy of Sciences board on radioactive waste management, at BuzzFeed News. He added that one of his friends had already been treated for prostate cancer and had implanted radioactive seeds in his body. He has also signed a document stating that he would not be cremated when he died in recent months.
[ad_2]
Source link