Radioactivity was detected at an Arizona crematory where a deceased man who’d received radiation therapy was incinerated, according to a new case report. A radioactive compound unrelated to the dead man was detected in the urine of an employee there.
"It is plausible that the crematory operator was exposed while cremating other human remains," Dr. Nathan Yu of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix and his co-authors wrote in theFascinating, mysterious, and medically amazing case files. This series is the most interesting education into the world of medicine and disease and the human body.
On learning of the patient's death, a safety officer from the hospital's radiation department notified the crematorium and, one-month post-treatment, surveyed the equipment using a Geiger counter. A urine sample from an employee was also analyzed.Incineration"volatilizes" radiopharmaceuticals in a dead body, and the radioactive contamination can be"inhaled by workers and result in greater exposure than from a living patient," Yu and his co-authors wrote.
A different isotope was detected in the employee's urine. Because he'd never undergone a medical procedure using radiopharmaceuticals, the researchers believe that he inhaled the radioactive contaminant while incinerating other bodies.With the current US cremation rate topping 50%, Yu and his co-authors believe that more studies are needed to understand the extent of radiation contamination at crematoriums and possible health hazards for workers.
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