Some clinical and cytogenetic long-term comparisons among liquidators of the Chernobyl NPP accident consequences

The comparative analysis of cytogenetic data and clinical investigation among participants in the liquidation of the Chernobyl NPP accident consequences, living in the Moscow Oblast, long after radiation exposure, is carried out. 136 liquidators who worked in the accident area mostly in 1986-87 were examined. The cytogenetic investigation included routine techniques, following Gimza staining, and a level of unstable chromosome aberrations could be estimated. The somatic abnormalities were represented mainly by cardiovascular and GIT diseases. The patients with cardiovascular diseases had a similar age distribution as compared with the general population. The mortality rate among the liquidators examined does not exceed that among males of similar ages in the Moscow Oblast. The cytogenetic investigation revealed an elevated level of dicentrics in lymphocytes among the liquidators employed in the accident area during 1986-87. The highest frequency of cells with dicentrics equal to (20.1±7.1)&middot10-4 was found in a group of liquidators whose radiation doses had not been recorded. The yield of dicentrics showed a dose dependence even 7 years following the accident.