Polonium 210Po activities in human blood of patients with ischaemic heart disease from Gdansk in Poland

The determination of polonium 210Po in human blood samples is presented and discussed in this paper. The human blood samples were collected from patients of Medical University of Gdansk with ischaemic heart disease (morbus ischaemicus cordis, MIC). The polonium concentrations in analyzed human blood samples are very differentiated. 210Po is of particular interest in public health and although is present in the environment in extremely low amounts, it is easily bioaccumulated to the human body. The study shows that the amount of 210Po that is incorporated into the human body depends on the food habits and some difference in its levels could be observed between smokers and non-smokers. (author)