Radiation Cataract

Abstract

Opacities/Dose-response/RBE/Threshold/A-bomb Survivors This report reviews the relationship of ionizing radiation to the occurrence of cataracts (posterior lenticular opacities) among the A-bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The new DS86 doses are available for 1,983 (93.4%) of the 2,124 A-bomb survivors analyzed in 1982. The DS86 kerma neutron component for Hiroshima is much smaller than its comparable T65DR component, but still 4.2 fold higher (0.38 Gy at 6 Gy) than that in Nagasaki (0.09 Gy at 6 Gy). Thus, if the eye is especially sensitive to neutrons, there may yet be some useful information on their effects, particularly in Hiroshima. Under the best fitting dose-response model, an L(gamma)-L(neutron) with two thresholds, both the gamma and neutron regression coefficients of the occurrence of cataracts on dose are positive and highly significant for the DS86 eye organ doses. The DS86 gamma coefficient is almost the same as that associated wih the T65DR gamma dose, the ratio of the two coefficients being 1.1 (95% confidence limits: 0.5-2.3) for DS86 kerma in the individual dose data, and if the risks based on the DS86 eye organ dose and DS86 kerma are compared, the ratio is 1.3 (0.6-2.8). However, the risk estimates associated with neutron exposure are 6.4 (2.2-19.2) fold higher for the DS86 kerma than the T65DR kerma and 1.6 (0.5-2.3) fold higher for the DS86 eye organ dose than for the DS86 kerma.

Risk of Cataract Incidence in a Cohort of Mayak PA Workers following Chronic Occupational Radiation Exposure

“…Ionizing radiation is known to cause lens opacification [ 1 , 2 ]. Since Publication 26 of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), radiation-induced cataracts have been classified as deterministic effects with a dose threshold depending on the rate of dose delivery (acute, fractionated/protracted, or chronic) [ 3 ].…”

The risk of cataractogenesis after gamma knife radiosurgery: a nationwide population based case-control study

“…The lenses of the eyes are the organs most sensitive to radiation injury, because of their superficial location and direct contact with the radiation beam. The relationship between cataract formation and cumulative doses of ionizing radiation has also been documented in epidemiologic studies from atomic bomb survivors [6, 7]. The International Commission on Radiologic Protection (ICRP) has published threshold values resulting in detectable lens opacities of 5 Sv for fractionated or protracted exposure and 0.5–2.0 Sv for single brief exposures [8, 9].…”