Management of Nuclear Event Casualties

This chapter begins with a brief discussion of the interaction of radiation with tissue. It focuses on facility preparation for decontamination and treatment of victims of a radiation accident. A discussion of techniques for early dose assessment for appropriate triage is followed by a review of the acute radiation syndromes. Beta emitters, like all radiation, can also cause injury if ingested or inhaled in sufficient amounts. Photons have no charge and no mass and therefore have relatively few interactions with air or tissue compared to particulate radiation. Radiation accidents can result in partial or whole body irradiation. The clinical signs of local radiation injury to the skin may be similar to those of thermal burns, but time of onset is dose dependent. The chapter addresses accidental or unwanted exposures of large populations, such as with nuclear power plant accidents and terrorist‐related exposures. It concludes with an introduction to the treatment of internal contamination.