Oral Radiation Death

Abstract

stricted terms radiation death in covers a number of distinct modes of death. Each particular mode of death can be thought of as the fullest expression of a particular component of the radiation syndrome. The characterization and isolation of the various modes constitutes the modal analysis of radiation death. This involves the recognition of diagnostic features which differentiate one mode from the others and the development of experimental procedures which emphasize one particular component of the radiation syndrome and suppress all others as far as possible. Only three modes of acute radiation death in mammals have been identified reasonably well: marrow death, intestinal death, and brain death. There is evidence for at least half a dozen other modes, all associated with survival of less than 30 days. The present paper deals with a mode of radiation death which emerges as a distinct entity from a considerable body of experimental data. This mode of death resembles marrow death with regard to survival time, which is about 9 to 10 days and is invariant (or nearly so) over a considerable range of doses. It differs in having a higher threshold value (1 kr and up, as compared with about 0.5 kr). Also, unlike marrow death, which seems to occur only when the whole of the hemopoietic tissue is irradiated, the mode under consideration can be produced by irradiating only