Chronic radiation syndrome among residents of the Techa riverside villages.

Presented in the manuscript are the results of an analytic study on the chronic radiation syndrome (CRS) among 940 residents of the Techa riverside villages. The uniqueness of this pathology is associated with the fact that, so far, this clinical entity has mainly been observed among Mayak PA workers and residents of the Techa riverside villages. The analyses of CRS cases identified among a population characterised by significant heterogeneity in terms of age, baseline health status and other radiosensitivity modification factors presents a considerable scientific and practical interest. It has been shown that a long-term total exposure at doses in excess of the threshold organ dose in people causes primarily functional changes (neutropaenia, thrombocytopaenia, vegetative dysfunction and asthenia) which, if the exposure continues, are transformed into organic changes (bone marrow hypoplasia, organic damage to the nervous system). If the dose rate decreases below the threshold, a complete repair of the functional changes is observed, while organic alterations may persist for a long time.