The German Thorotrast Cohort Study: a review and how to get access to the data.

It is well known that exposures like those from (226)Ra, (224)Ra and Thorotrast(®) injections increase the risk of neoplasia in bone marrow and liver. The thorium-based radioactive contrast agent Thorotrast(®) was introduced in 1929 and applied worldwide until the 1950s, especially in angiography and arteriography. Due to the extremely long half-life of several hundred years and the life-long retention of the thorium dioxide particles in the human body, patients suffer lifetime internal exposure.

Association between lymph node silicosis and lung silicosis in 4,384 German uranium miners with lung cancer.

This study investigates the association between lymph node-only and lung silicosis in uranium miners with lung cancer and exposure to quartz dust. Tissue slides of 4,384 German uranium miners with lung cancer were retrieved from an autopsy archive and reviewed by 3 pathologists regarding silicosis in the lungs and lymph nodes. Cumulative exposure to quartz dust was assessed with a quantitative job-exposure matrix.

Major histopathological patterns of lung cancer related to arsenic exposure in German uranium miners.

Objective: The mechanisms of action of arsenic in the development of lung cancer are still not yet elucidated. Considering the relationship between arsenic and squamous cell carcinomas of the skin, we hypothesized that arsenic exposure may be more closely associated with squamous cell carcinoma of the lung.

Methods: A comprehensive histopathological database and a detailed job-exposure matrix developed for former German uranium miners with exposure to arsenic, radon, and quartz were analyzed to quantitatively assess the effect of arsenic regarding cell type of lung cancer.

A study on lung cancer mortality related to radon, quartz, and arsenic exposures in German uranium miners.

Between 1946 and 1990 uranium mining was undertaken on a large scale in East Germany. This study evaluates the proportional lung cancer risk of German uranium miners from radon, quartz, and arsenic exposure during mining operations at the WISMUT Corporation. The database of the WISMUT tissue repository and a comprehensive job-exposure matrix were used to compare exposure levels of lung cancer cases with deaths from diseases of the circulatory system for risk analysis.

Mortality among Thorotrast-exposed patients and an unexposed comparison group in the German Thorotrast study.

Thorotrast was the brand name of a stabilised colloidal solution of thorium dioxide which was used preferentially as an X-ray contrast medium for arteriography between 1930 and 1950. The administration of the medium led to lifelong chronic alpha-particle irradiation by thorium decay products, mainly in the organs of deposition. Several epidemiological follow-up studies were set up after recognition of these side-effects among which the German study was the largest.