A measure of the effectiveness of DTPA chelation therapy in cases of plutonium inhalation and plutonium wounds

DTPA (Diethylene Triamine Penta Acetic Acid) was administered i.v. to 6 subjects, involved in accidents which resulted in plutonium exposures. Four instances of plutonium inhalation are described. In three instances the contaminant was either plutonium oxide or plutonium/uranium oxide; in the fourth instance the contaminant was plutonium nitrate in the form of an aerosol spray. Only in this latter case was the DTPA chelation therapy demonstrated to have been effective. Two cases of plutonium contaminated wounds are considered. In the instance when the contaminant was in the form of a metal splinter of plutonium the DTPA chelation therapy was effective. An estimated total of 5190 pCi of plutonium was eliminated in the urine during the first 40 days post incident, and 29% of the amount taken into the system was removed by the application of chelation therapy, assuming that the amount remaining is excreted according to a Langham power function equation.