Cytogenetic damage in lymphocytes for the purpose of dose reconstruction: a review of three recent radiation accidents.

The analysis of chromosomal aberrations in peripheral blood of radiation accident victims is an established method of biological dosimetry. The dose estimate on the basis of an in vitro calibration curve is straightforward when the radiation exposure is homogeneous and the analysis not delayed. In recent years three radiation accidents occurred, where the irradiation or sampling conditions precluded a simple estimation of the dose. During the Georgian accident soldiers carried in their pockets small sources of 137Cs leading to partial and protracted body exposures. During the Tokai-mura accident, three employees involved in the process of 235U enrichment were exposed to very high doses of gamma rays and neutrons. During the Bialystok accident, five patients with breast cancer undergoing radiotherapy were exposed to a single dose of electrons which reached about 100 Gy. In the present paper the approaches chosen to estimate, by cytogenetic methods, the doses absorbed by the people involved in the accidents are described.