Carcinogenesis of Depleted Uranium Fragments.
Abstract
Several soldiers from the Gulf War were wounded by depleted uranium (DU)-containing shrapnel. There is concern that DU may be more hazardous than other shrapnel because of its radioactivity and known toxicity to the kidney. The risks associated with the long-term exposure to DU in this form are thought to be low, but are poorly understood. Predictions of risk are necessary to guide the medical management of soldiers with DU-bearing wounds both now and in the future. We are determining the carcinogenicity of radioactive DU fragments in tissues relative to nonradioactive foreign-body fragments and assessing the potential for renal toxicity of DU fragments by correlating urine and kidney concentrations of U with time after implantation. DU fragments of differing sizes and shapes are being implanted in the subcutis of rodents to compare with results from animals implanted with inert metals. In this way a toxicity ratio can be determined that can be used to predict the expected response in humans from the known response of humans to relatively inert shrapnel. To date, a pilot study has been initiated to determine the important experimental design parameters for studying the foreign-body response using this test system in animals.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 01, 1996
- Accession Number
- ADA330150
Entities
People
- Fletcher F. Hahn
Organizations
- United States Department of Energy