title: Human bones obtained from routine joint replacement surgery as a tool for studies of plutonium, americium and ⁹⁰Sr body-burden in general public.
abstract: The paper presents a new sampling method for studying in-body radioactive contamination by bone-seeking radionuclides such as (90)Sr, (239+240)Pu, (238)Pu, (241)Am and selected gamma-emitters, in human bones. The presented results were obtained for samples retrieved from routine surgeries, namely knee or hip joints replacements with implants, performed on individuals from Southern Poland. This allowed to collect representative sets of general public samples. The applied analytical radiochemical procedure for bone matrix is described in details. Due to low concentrations of (238)Pu the ratio of Pu isotopes which might be used for Pu source identification is obtained only as upper limits other then global fallout (for example Chernobyl) origin of Pu. Calculated concentrations of radioisotopes are comparable to the existing data from post-mortem studies on human bones retrieved from autopsy or exhumations. Human bones removed during knee or hip joint surgery provide a simple and ethical way for obtaining samples for plutonium, americium and (90)Sr in-body contamination studies in general public.
authors.affiliation: The Henryk Niewodniczański Institute of Nuclear Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Radzikowskiego 152, 31-342 Cracow, Poland. jerzy.mietelski@ifj.edu.pl
authors.forename: Jerzy W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Mietelski
authors.forename: Edward B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Golec
authors.forename: Ewa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tomankiewicz
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Golec
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nowak
authors.forename: Elżbieta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Szczygiel
authors.forename: Kamil
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Brudecki
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000576:Americium / Q000032:analysis*; D001822:Body Burden; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006621:Hip Joint / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011005:Plutonium / Q000032:analysis*; D011854:Radiochemistry / Q000379:methods*; D013326:Strontium Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D013326:Strontium Radioisotopes; D011005:Plutonium; D000576:Americium