Radiation whole-body exposure

Total or partial whole-body exposure with early prodromal syndrome. Acute radiation syndrome with severity depending on dose. Treatment as noted earlier, possible specialized care. Full blood count and LILA typing prior to transfer to specialized center. 

Total or partial whole-body exposure with thermal, chemical, or radiation burns. Severe injuries, life-threatening. Treat life-threatening conditions. Treat as above and early transfer to specialized facility. 

A typical course following a whole body exposure to a source ot penetrating radiation Mtvdves an filial prodromal phase with syipploms such as nausea, vomiting, fatigue and possibly fever and diar-... 

Table 3 Effect of Whole-Body Exposure to a Single Dose of Radiation...

For whole body exposure, the non-occupational exposure limit is 100 mrem/year. This is in addition to the 360 mrem/yr received, on average, by individuals in the U.S. from natural background radiation and manmade radiation sources. The 100 mrem/year limit also applies to individuals under age 18 who work in the vicinity of radiation sources. 

Some skin damage frequently accompanies ARS. However, the cutaneous syndrome can also result from localized acute radiation exposure to the skin, usually from direct handling of radioactive sources or from contamination of the skin or clothes (2,8) (see Figs. 4.1 and 4.2) With localized exposure, even with high doses, the victim frequently survives, because the whole body usually does not receive the localized dose. However, if a patient with localized radiation induced cutaneous injury has also received whole body irradiation from an external source, the cutaneous damage increases the risk for death from the whole body exposure (2). Patients with the hematopoietic syndrome due to whole body irradiation will recover more slowly, if at all, from cutaneous injury due to bleeding, infection and poor wound healing (2). 

G20. Granstein, R. D., and Sander, D. N. Whole body exposure to ultra-violet radiation results in increased serum interleukin-1 activity in humans. Lymphokine Res. 6, 187-193 (1987). 

Current regulations in the United States require that no member of the public may receive more than 500 mrem/year whole-body exposure from nonmedical x-ray equipment. On the other hand, a designated radiation worker may receive up to 5 rem/year whole-body exposure and 75 rem/year to hands and forearms. In order to record this exposure value, radiation workers wear film badges or similar dosimeters since it is assumed that they will be working around operating radiation sources and it is potentially possible to exceed this permissible exposure. 

Whole-body exposure— An exposure of the body to radiation, in which the entire body, rather than an isolated part, is irradiated by an external source. 

Effect of Ascorbic Acid Treatment on the Radiation-Induced Mitotic Block in Bone Marrow Cells following Acute Whole-Body Exposure... 

Table 7.6 Radiation damage for the whole body exposure...

Evaluation, 2005). The presentation of these S5unptoms assumes whole-body exposure and is not valid if the entire body has not been exposed. The speed with which symptoms manifest, as well as the difference in sensitivity of organs, is related to the absorbed dose of radiation, with greater doses resulting in a shorter period of time before the onset of S5unptoms. 

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