A Radiologic Study of Inorganic Urinary Calculi

Abstract

The radiological surveillance of large numbers of inorganic urinary calculi surgically removed from urolithiasis patients may provide a method for estimating the radiation dose of the general population resulting from internally deposited radioactive strontium (⁹⁰Sr). Fifty thousand inorganic urinary calculi were assayed for stable and radioactive strontium and correlated with strontium deposition in human bone data collected during the same period. The relationship between the average ⁹⁰Sr data for urinary calculi and those reported for human bone samples indicate that this routinely available source of internal assay material could provide a cursory estimation of regional or national population body burdens and doses resulting from ⁹⁰Sr in human bone. No evidence has been found that the current concentration of ⁹⁰Sr in urinary calculi creates a harmful internal radiation dose.