Application of the methods of scanning electron microscopy and x-ray microanalysis for «hot particles» detection in the human lungs formed as a result of the Chernobyl catastrophe

Abstract

The up-to-date approaches to «hot particles» studying were applied in this investigation. A complex of morphological and phisical-chemical methods make it possible to detect and identify the «hot particles» in the autopsy material of the lungs from 2 males at the age 27 and 25, who participated in the liquidation of Chernobyl katastrophe consequences in 1986. The patients died after having worked in the zone of katastrophe 1 and 2,5 years from cerebral hemorrage and acute leukemia respectively. For analyzing the autopsy material the gamma-spectrometry, hystoautoradiography, scanning electron microscopy and x-ray microanalysis methods were applied. The elemental and isotope content of these particles was the same as that of the «hot particles» detected in the zone of the katastrophe. The results obtained make it possible to suppose that the «hot particles» have been inhaled and existed for a long time in the human bodies. On the basis of these data we suppose that the «hot particles» are the cause of respiratory and other systems disorders.