"hot" gold -summary of information

["Karam, Andrew" <Andrew_Karam@URMC.Rochester.edu>]

First, many thanks for all the help I have received on this issue.  Second,
I thought I'd give a quick summary of what I've learned to date.

Several decades ago, radon would be encapsulated in gold seeds and used for
brachytherapy purposes.  After the radon decayed away, the gold would shield
most of the radiation from the longer-lived radon progeny.  Sometime in the
1930s or 1940s, a large number of unused seeds were sold to gold dealers,
melted down, and made into jewelry.  This intermixed the progeny nuclides
with the gold, putting them into intimate contact with the skin when  a ring
was worn.

Sometime in the early 1940s, one couple noticed persistent rashes under
their wedding rings that they had purchased 1-2 years earlier.  After about
25 years, this was diagnosed as radiation dermatitis.  Between 1968 and
1981, 11 cases of radiation dermatitis were reported, prompting the NY DOH
to investigate.  Out of over 160,000 pieces of jewelry screened, 177 pieces
turned up that were hot that belonged to 155 people.  Of these, 135 were
surveyed and examined and 25 had either skin cancer (9 cases) or severe skin
problems (16)  Another 25 people had either mild or moderate skin problems.


Dose rates measured on contact with the rings varied from about 11 mrem/hr
(0.11 mSv/hr) to about 900 mrem/hr (9 mSv/hr).  There was a direct
correlation between length of time the rings were worn and the severity of
skin damage or cancer.  Gamma spec showed almost exclusively Rn progeny.

In addition to the information provided by those who responded to me, I
referenced the following papers:

	Measuring the skin dose from radioactively contaminated gold rings
using LiF thermoluminescent powder, Eheman et al, HPJ 	vol 56, No 4, pp
547-550

	Health effects associated with exposure to radioactively
contaminated gold rings, Baptiste et al, Journal of the American
Academy of Dermatology vol 10, No 6, pp 1019-1023

	Skin reactions from gold jewelry contaminated with radon deposit,
Simon and Harley, JAMA vol 200, No 3, pp 166-167

	Radiodermatitis caused by a radioactive gold ring, Leone, JAMA vol
206, No 9, pp 2113-2114

	Squamous cell carcinoma of the skin associated with radioactive gold
rings, Stutzman and Schmidt, Journal of the American 	Academy of
Dermatology vol 10, No 6, pp 1075-1076

	Radioactive contamination of manufactured products, Lubenau and
Nussbaumer, HPJ vol 51, No 4, pp 409-425

There's more information out there, but the day hasn't been THAT slow. 

Andy

Andrew Karam, CHP              (716) 275-1473 (voice)
Radiation Safety Officer          (716) 275-3781 (office)
University of Rochester           (716) 256-0365 (fax)
601 Elmwood Ave. Box HPH   Rochester, NY  14642

Andrew_Karam@URMC.Rochester.edu
http://Intranet.urmc.rochester.edu/RadiationSafety
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