TITLE Human Health Effects from Energy Generation: Medical Studies of People of the Marshall Islands Accidentally Exposed to Fallout DATE PREPARED HA-02-01-O01 CONTRACTOR NAME Associated Universities, Inc. 201. BUDGET AND REPORTING CODE the | CODE 03/31/80 WP NUMBER BNL TASK NO. , REY. NO. 0 Other. Capital Equipment Requirements for BY (FY 1982) Automation of medical records of Marshall Island patients is required to obtain detailed analyses which must be performed manually and which are sometimes not practical with existing manpower. To use automated equipment for processing data requires purchase of input and output devices ($10,000) for the recording and retrieval of patient data. Medical record equipment necessary to automate records includes devices to generate, and read microfiche records, and produce “hard copy" of records from microfiche. The system is estimated to cost $30,000. Computer capability within the Medical Department is provided by a Xerox computer that is in excess of 13 years old. Xerox is no longer in the data processing field, spare parts are difficult to obtain, and system hardware changes are all but impossible. To provide computer capability necessary to automate medical data of the Marshall Island patients,this program will share $10,000 of the total cost for replacing and upgrading the equipment. A thyroid scanning system for combined x-ray fluorescence and radionuclide imaging studies is necessary to identify nodules of interest. a large, high-priority germanium detector (6 cm diameter, The system employs 2 cm thick) in a vertical mount; the isotope exciting source is 170Tm( ti, = 134d; 51, 52 + 59 kev x rays) which is produced and available at BNL in high purity and in large amounts. The system uses pulse-stepping motors driving a precision machine tool scanning table, under computer control, acquiring counts from characteristic x and gamma rays in CAMAC scalers and storing these in an LSI-ll in the CAMAC controller. Data can be archived on floppy discs for analysis and image production. A monitor display will be included, but final high quality images will be produced in the nuclear medicine general purpose image analysis computer (PDP 11/34 with a high performance display). This system will provide high quality diagnostic images that scale precisely to the anatomical size of the neck. Nodules can then be marked on the image to compare precisely what is felt by the physician and what is detected by the imaging procedure. The x-ray fluorescence scan provides information on the iodine content of the thyroid that can be differentiated from findings on solid tumors by ultrasound imaging. rate; In summary, the x-ray fluorescence method yields data with low false negative conveys very low radiation dose to the subject (< 100 mrem/study--thyroid dose, essentially 0 whole body dose); cisk of and should be used in populations in which the thyroid cancer is high and where there is reason to minimize radiation ex- posure. One-half the cost of the system ($20,000) is. requested for studies of Marshallese patients. The balance of the cost will be borne by the Nuclear Medicine Program. The Clinical Chemistry Laboratory of the Hospital of the Medical Research Center