title: Clearance of radioactive tantalum from the human lung after accidental inhalation.
abstract: Techniques of body radioactivity measurement were used to study the clearance of activated tantalum oxide accidentally inhaled by three reactor workers. The whole-body retention after 7 days was about 1% of the initial deposit. In one subject studied for a further 424 days the residual activity in the thorax was cleared with a biological half-life of about 1,400 days. The results support indications from other studies that tantalum powder administered in aerosol bronchography may be subject to prolonged alveolar retention.
mesh_terms: D000059:Accidents; D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000378:metabolism; D006207:Half-Life; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000378:metabolism*; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000378:metabolism; D010087:Oxides / Q000378:metabolism; D011868:Radioisotopes / Q000378:metabolism*; D013635:Tantalum / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive; D010087:Oxides; D011868:Radioisotopes; D013635:Tantalum