Re: Nasal Radium Irradiation [NRI] -Other Countries Where Performed

[RADPROJECT@aol.com]

In a message dated 2/1/99 12:53:16 PM Eastern Standard Time, schoenho@via.at
writes:

<< I am following with much interest the NRI debate. Is there anyone who could
 tell whether similar "treatment" has occurred in other countries than the
 USA? 
 
 Thanks,
 
 Franz
 
 
 Franz Schoenhofer
 Habicherg. 31/7
 A-1160 Vienna
 Austria >>

Dear Franz & Radsafe:

I'm not sure what "debate" Franz has been following since the issue hasn't
been debated on RADSAFE [to my knowledge]. However, several available
references to NRI's use outside the US are:

1) Numerous authors for various sections of report, "The use of radium in the
aerotitis control program of the Army Air Forces", Vol. 54, pp. 650-724,
Annals of Otology, Rhinology, and Laryngology, Vol. 54., pp. 650-724, 1945 
--[This journal article describes use of NRI on 6,881 WW.II era vets in an
experimental evaluation conducted under a program organized and administered
by Johns Hopkins, which trained the Army Air Force Flight Surgeons in the use
of NRI after Hopkins'  physicians developed a new  radium irradiator for the
Army Air Force called the Monel Metal Radium Irradiator with 50 mg of Ra-226
in a sealed Monel capsule, wall thickness 0.3 mm. Many of the locations where
NRI was administered by the Army Air Force were at forward air bases in
England, N. Africa, and Italy, as well as at numerous bases in the US.]

2) Verduijn PG, Hayes RB, Looman C, Habbema JD, van der Maas PJ. Mortality
after nasopharyngeal radium irradiation for eustachian tube dysfunction. Ann
Otol Rhinol Laryngol, Vol. 98, pp. 839--44, 1989
-- [Describes study of NRI use on about 5,000 children  in the Netherlands
from post WW.II through about 1960].

3) Verduijn, PG, et.al, Late Health effects of radiation for eustachian tube
dysfunction: previous results and ongoing study in the Netherlands,
Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery, Vol. 115, p. 417-421, 1996
-- [Followup review of data gathered in above study looking at cancer
incidence not just mortality. Reports a statistically significant doubling of
overall cancer incidence, most of it in head and neck. Also reports the
practice of NRI in Netherlands continued through at least 1981 and these later
treated individuals would be added to a followup study, in progress]

NRI treatments were used throughout Europe after WW.II. I was told by some HPS
members who I met when I delivered a poster session on NRI at the 1995 HPS
Annual Meeting in Boston, that NRI treatments were still being adminstered in
Eastern Europe. One individual told me his grandfather has just received NRI
treatments in 1995 in Hungary!


Stewart Farber, MS Public Health
Director - Radium Experiment Assessment Project [REAP]
19 Stuart St.
Pawtucket, RI 02860

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