Open AccessMedical Countermeasures for Radiation Combined Injury: Radiation with Burn, Blast, Trauma and/or Sepsis. Report of an NIAID Workshop, March 26–27, 2007
Author(s) -
Andrea L. DiCarlo,
Richard Hatchett,
Joseph Kaminski,
G D Ledney,
Terry C. Pellmar,
Paul Okunieff,
N. Ramakrishnan
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
radiation research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.918
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1938-5404
pISSN - 0033-7587
DOI - 10.1667/rr1295.1
Subject(s) - radiation injury , radiological weapon , medicine , acute radiation syndrome , radiation exposure , countermeasure , poison control , medical physics , lethality , medical emergency , intensive care medicine , radiation therapy , nuclear medicine , toxicology , surgery , biology , stem cell , aerospace engineering , haematopoiesis , engineering , genetics
Non-clinical human radiation exposure events such as the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings or the Chernobyl accident are often coupled with other forms of injury, such as wounds, burns, blunt trauma, and infection. Radiation combined injury would also be expected after a radiological or nuclear attack. Few animal models of radiation combined injury exist, and mechanisms underlying the high mortality associated with complex radiation injuries are poorly understood. Medical countermeasures are currently available for management of the non-radiation components of radiation combined injury, but it is not known whether treatments for other insults will be effective when the injury is combined with radiation exposure. Further research is needed to elucidate mechanisms behind the synergistic lethality of radiation combined injury and to identify targets for medical countermeasures. To address these issues, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases convened a workshop to make recommendations on the development of animal models of radiation combined injury, possible mechanisms of radiation combined injury, and future directions for countermeasure research, including target identification and end points to evaluate treatment efficacy.