192Ir Accident, Germany (1968)
 Accident scenario
      On September 18, 1968, a radiation accident occurred when material was being tested with a 192-iridium rod; Six workers became accidentally exposed but only one of these, a 31-year-old man, appeared severely injured by closer contact with the rod (deposited in jacket pocket). Only this man has been examined cytogenetically. Taking into account the time factor and radiation type, the local radiation exposure was physically estimated at between 4,000 and 6,000 R in the pelvic and thigh regions. Therefore, the whole-body dose must have been about 200 rads according to a preliminary calculation; this value was corrected to about 100 rads after a more detailed analysis of the accident. This dose estimation corresponded to the local inflammatory skin alterations and the effect on the gonads (hypospermia to aspermia).
 Early clinical findings
      The initial bone-marrow sample taken from the exposed area (iliac crest) showed typical cytomorphological alterations seen after radiation exposure. Especially striking was an accumulation of pathological mitoses in the erythropoetic system.
 Chromosomal dosimetry
      Forty-eight hours after accident, 20 ml of peripheral blood were taken, and two parallel lymphocyte cultures were set up; one for 51 hours and the other for 53 hours of incubation time.
 Reference
     Schneider GJ, Chone B and Blonnigen T: Chromosomal aberrations in a radiation accident: Dosimetric and hematological aspect. Radiat. Res., 40: 613-617, 1969.
 Chromosome aberration analysis
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No. of cells Dicentrics Rings Deletions Translocations
310 20 4 29 2
.