36
EFFECTS
JONE, ING
OF
third to the sixth oor ehh gay. ane was ctie
acterized by a more severe esvthemar i
oy
Dhe
third phase ats to tl days. was characterized
by vesicle and builae formation, The ers thera
spread to new areas
during the following
:
weeks, and the active process subsided by v4 1
32 days. The bullae ciried up, and desquamation and epithelization took place on less
severely damaged arens: (+) The fourth phase
or chronie stage was
haracterized by further
breakdownof skin with necrosis im areas which
were damaged suthciently to eompromise the
blood supply. Atrophy of the epidermis and
loss of epithelia: structures took place. whi h
necessitated skin grafting im some cases.
Robbins et a/. 7) reporteu six eases aceident
ally exposed over mach cf their bodies to seat
tered cathode ravs from a 1200 ky primary
beam with exposure time of about 2 minutes
and a rough estimation of dose to the skin of
between 1000 and 2000 rep The lesions described were similar to those reported by
Knowlton ef af, with t primary ervthema de-
veloping within 36 hours; secondary erythema
with vesiculation and
suallae formation ap
pearing about ly to 14 dave later; and, in the
more severely arfected. a tertiary phase char
acterized by further vreakdown of the skit
In comparison with severe roentgen ras ceac
tions these investigators stressed ihe unique
periodicity of cathode ray burns, relative an
sence of deep damage to the skin, less pain.
greater rapidity of healing, and absence of
pigmentation.
hese point. would apply 10
the Marshallese lesions except for the mult:
phasic reactions and ibsence of pigmentation
Crawford (8) report. a case of cathode rus
burns of the hands wh eh were similar to those
described by Robbins - 6 1
Iixxperimental beta radiation burns on hn
man beings have beer reported oy Low-Beer
9) and Wirth ind Raper 10)
Both ives
tigators used P? discs apphed te che flexcr
surface of the wrms.
forearms. or thighs
fai
varying lengths of time
bow-Beer reported
“monophasic” skin reactions He found that a
calculated dose of 144 rep co the test mith
meter of sking
nor cg@ se feapsorotion. pre
RADIATION
tuced a threshold erythema.
Dry, scaly, des-
juamanion was produced by 7200 rep in the
ist mniliimerer and bullous, wet desquamation
sas produced by 17.000 rep to the first milli
neter
Erythema developed in 3 to 4 days,
followed later by pigmentation and desquama-
‘ion with Ingher doses. Recovery was observed with doses of 17.000 rep. The lesions
after showed depigmented centers with hypernemented
edges
salso
seen
in
the
present
AseS
Wirth and Raper (10) produced primary
erythema within 6 hours after exposure to a
lose of 635 to 1180 rep of P? radiation. M1nute vesicles with dry, spotty desquamation
were noted with 1180 rep at about the fifth to
axth weeks post-exposure.
Twenty-three Japaneses fishermen were ex-
posed to the same fallout material which involved the Marshallese and Americans. There
were many similarities in appearance of skin
esions that developed. Pigmentation was also
‘common in the Japanese and some degree of
erythema was reported (11) which was not seen
nthe Marshallese. Distribution of lesions was
iet the same due to different parts of the body
‘eing protected by clothing. For example, in
‘he Japanese scalp lesions and epilation were
nore common on the crown of the head since
nandkerchiefs were usually worn around the
wad leaving the crown exposed. Shoes prorected the feet of the Japanese, but lesions of
‘he ands between thumband index finger were
‘common, apparently due to handling contaminated fishing lines. Lesions with belt line dis-
‘ribution occurred in the Japanese fishermen
‘ut not the Marshallese. Similar mild lesions
were observed on several American sailors who
vere on ships of the task force exposed to fallvat
From available information, the severity
ind course of the lesions in the Japanese fishermen uppeared to be similar to those seen in the
Rongelap Marshallese group.
The lesions in this report did not follow
srectsely the same course as those beta radiation
esions described by Knowlton, Robbins, and
thers ¢t-Es and they presented certain unique
Tontaces which merit further diseusston.