Novel Biodosimetry Methods Applied to Victims of the Goiania Accident

Abstract

Two biodosimetric methods under development at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory were applied to five persons accidentally exposed to a 137Cs source in Goiânia, Brazil. The methods used were somatic "null" mutations at the glycophorin A locus detected as missing proteins on the surface of blood erythrocytes and chromosome translocations in blood lymphocytes detected using fluorescence in-situ hybridization. Biodosimetric results obtained approximately 1 y after the accident using these new and largely unvalidated methods are in general agreement with results obtained immediately after the accident using dicentric chromosome aberrations. Additional follow-up of Goiânia accident victims will 1) help provide the information needed to validate these new methods for use in biodosimetry and 2) provide independent estimates of dose.