The role of cytogenetics in early triage of radiation casualties.

Preliminary dose estimates by chromosomal analysis can be made rapidly in order to supplement early triage of radiation casualties based on clinical signs. An in vitro simulation of an accident with many casualties receiving whole or partial body exposure in the range 0-8 Gy is described. Faced with an urgent need for rapid results, confirmation of clinical triage can generally be obtained from scoring 20 metaphases per subject. Scoring should be increased to 50 cells where there is disagreement with the initial assessments or evidence of significantly inhomogeneous exposure.