Triage and diagnosis of radiation injuries——Introduction of a suggestion on acute radiation sickness therapy made by strategic national stockpile radiation working group of USA. Part 1

Strategic National Stockpile Radiation Working Group developed a consensus document to provide a framework for physicians in internal medicine and the medical subspecialties to evaluate and manage large-scale radiation injuries for aiding individuals injured by a terrorist act involving radioactive material. Scenarios have been developed for such acts that include a range of exposures resulting in few to many casualties. Individual radiation dose is assessed by determining the time to onset and severity of nausea and vomiting, decline in absolute lymphocyte count over several hours or days after exposure, and appearance of chromosome aberrations (including dicentrics and ring forms) in peripheral blood lymphocytes. Documentation of clinical signs and symptoms (affecting the hematopoietic, gastrointestinal, cerebrovascular, and cutaneous systems) over time is essential for triage of victims, selection of therapy, and assignment of prognosis.