Accidental Radiation Excursion at the Oak Ridge Y—12 Plant—IV

Abstract

The patients exposed to irradiation in the Y-12 accident have been studied and followed at the ORINS Medical Division Hospital. The five patients with the higher dose levels were kept in the hospital for several weeks following exposure. Epilation began on the seventeenth day. Minimal clinical signs of a hemorrhagic tendency were seen around the twenty-fifth to thirtieth days. Antibiotics were not used prophylactically. A few minor infectious episodes occurred, but were easily managed. Hematologic studies showed the characteristic pattern of changes expected after total-body irradiation. Spontaneous recovery of blood values occurred and the patients have remained in good general condition following the accident.