67 Hematological Effects on Heavily Irradiated Japanese Fishermen se to each person differed dehis cabin. ‘YT was inferred as about 20 to HEMATOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS ity in the thyroid region during 1. > found in the urine samples 1. The radioactivity decrease d counts at about the 4th to 8th week after the exposure. Five cases revealed a count of less than 2,000/mm2, 13 less than 3,000, and 5 less than 4,000. In on the activity in the urine was rom the fatal case showed that ‘her, when compared with the AIMURA et al., 1956). “r content in the urine of the the same time the results cf erence between fishermen and Leukocytes The total number of leukocytes decreased gradually, showing minimum one case, the leukocyte level was depressed to 800. Similar relationship was found between minimum counts ef neutrophils and the dose as shown in Figure 2. 2500 w 2000 z& lay an impotant role in early sns in the early stage. Fig. 2. Correlation between the estimated doses to the whole body and the minimal number of neutrophils. _ 1500 oo ; = 1900 ote = - EARLY STAGE A correlation was found between these minimum counts and the doses of inclividual external irradiation. e *e 500 — _ yo .” . bd 2 e dose of lst day 70 dose during 2weeks 160 130 200 190 300 250 400 310 500 . 370 600 430 700 In most cases a shift to the left of the neutrophils was observed. cells increased in early stage and then gradually decreased. 490 800 R R Staff However, in some cases, metamyelocytes and myelocytes appeared in peripheral blood especially with the begin of recovery. In a fatal case who died of liver damage, a considerable number of juvenile neutrophils were observed at the end stage. Lymphopenia was noted between the 2nd and 8th week in all cases. Leukocyte count began to increase after the 8th week. In manycases eosinophilia was remarkable, especially with the indication cf recovery. Eosinophilia continued in some cases for several years without proof of parasites, and one case still revealed slight eosinophilia in the 1968 survey. 2. Erythrocytes At the time of hospitalization a few patients were anemic. Noreticulocyte was observed in them at the critical stage. Color index was higher than1. 0. The Price-Jones curves of erythrocyte diameter were displaced to the right of normal atfirst, and returned to almost normalafter one year. These changes corrseponded to changes of erythroblast diameters in bone marrow. 3. Platelets, ete. Platelet counts decreased, reaching a minimum in the 4th to 7th week. Most of the fishermen revealed the values below 100,000/mm3. Fig. 1 Symptons and signs in the early stage. The results of other tests related to hemorrhage showed depression at the critical stage in general and recovered by the 10th week. 4. Comparison with Other Irradiated Cases When these blood changes are compared with the changes of other irradiated