Published 2009 | Version v1
Miscellaneous Open

The tragic history of thorotrast

  • 1. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, MG (Brazil). Faculdade de Medicina. Centro de Memoria da Medicina
  • 2. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, MG (Brazil). Escola de Engenharia. Programa de Pos-Graduacao em Ciencias e Tecnicas Nucleares

Description

Thorotrast, a colloidal solution of dioxide of natural thorium, slightly radioactive, had been applied on fluoroscopy applied since 1928 to the purpose of pielography, accomplishment for retrograde road, and to the contrast studies on the liver and on the spleen. The half-life of the thorium dioxide is 1,4 x 1010 years. Its biological half-life can be taken from the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) as 8,000 days in bone, with, bone uptake of 70%; 700 days in the liver with 4% of liver uptake; 700 days in all other tissues and organs, in which 16% of uptake . The remaining 10% has been assumed to be excreted with a halflife of 0.5 days. Its Th-232 disintegration produces a series of radionuclides following a emission of alpha and beta particles ending on Pb208, a stable nuclide. However, the whole thorium dioxide is almost retained in the organism, keeping 70% deposited in the liver, 20% in the spleen and the remaining in the bony medulla and in the peripheral linfonodes. Thorotrast became the choice of the majority of the neurosurgeries at that time, as Egas Moniz, that rejected the sodium iodine at 25% concentration to adopt Thorotrast. That contrast had been used unrestrictly until 1950. The present article presents the medical discuss about Throtrast and investigates its oncology effects on human. (author)

Availability note (English)

Available from INIS in electronic form

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Additional details

Publishing Information

Imprint Pagination
[4 p.]
Report number
INIS-BR--6313

Conference

Title
International nuclear atlantic conference. Innovations in nuclear technology for a sustainable future; 16. Brazilian national meeting on reactor physics and thermal hydraulics; 9. Brazilian national meeting on nuclear applications; 1. Meeting on nuclear industry
Acronym
INAC 2009
Dates
27 Sep - 2 Oct 2009
Place
Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

Optional Information

Notes
8 refs. Published only in CD-Rom. Code: e08_128_fullpaper.pdf