Abstract
1. Introduction
Since 1960s, diethylene-triamine-penta-acetate (DTPA) has been treated many workers who had an internal contamination of plutonium in the overseas nuclear facilities.
In Japan, DTPA has never been treated because an accident needing the DTPA treatment has not occurred.
We have prepared the guideline on the DTPA treatment method with physician's review in 2007, referring to an overseas DTPA administration experience and research findings.
2. Characteristics of DTPA
There are two types of DTPA treatment; One is Calcium-DTPA (Ca-DTPA) and the other is Zinc-DTPA (Zn-DTPA). It is known that the excretion effect of Ca-DTPA on plutonium is higher than that of Zn-DTPA. DTPA forms stable chelates with plutonium ions into the blood, and most of DTPA is excreted in urine. Although DTPA has the excretion effect on americium or curium in addition to plutonium, its excretion effect on uranium and neptunium cannot be expected.
DTPA has been administered to many workers with internal contamination overseas and no serious adverse reactions have been reported. Contraindications of DTPA are not known, but the Ca-DTPA treatment is not recommended for a woman during pregnancy.
3. Administration Methods
DTPA is administrated 1g once a day either with slow intravenous injection or by intravenous infusion diluted in saline in principle. DTPA diluted in water or saline can be administered by nebulized inhalation.
