Home
> Nasopharyngeal Radium Irradiation (NRI)
In late 1994, Congress asked CDC to assess the health risks associated
with nasopharyngeal radium irradiation. This treatment was an accepted
medical practice in the 1940s and 1950s to treat hearing loss, chronic
otitus and other conditions in children and by the military for aerotitis
media in submariners and aviators. The public and medical community are now
concerned that people who received this treatment may experience delayed
adverse health effects.
In September 1995, we convened a workshop on "The Public Health Response to
Nasopharyngeal Radium Irradiation." It brought together a diverse group of
more than 100 scientists and lay people, including representatives of state
and federal health agencies, the Department of Veterans Affairs, academic
institutions, the military, Senate and Congressional staffs, veterans’
organizations, and civilians who received the treatments, to discuss the
historical use of the treatment, possible health effects, and possible
public health responses. The workshop also included a panel of 10 invited
scientists who were asked to provide suggestions for follow-up public health
activities. This panel’s recommendations provided directions for future CDC
actions and Public Health Service recommendations.
We published a summary of the panel’s report in
CDC’s
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report and in JAMA (the Journal of the
American Medical Association). The full workshop proceedings were published
in the November 1996 issue of Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery.
In response to panel recommendations, in 1996 we convened a live satellite
video conference, which specifically covered the history of nasopharyngeal
radium irradiation treatments. This conference linked CDC with more than 250
VA and DoD medical facilities throughout the country. It served as a
continuing medical education program for physicians and other health care
providers about the potential adverse health effects of this treatment, and
included a demonstration of a thorough head and neck examination.
Since then, we have provided the videotaped version of the medical education
conference to the Department of Veterans Affairs for use in more than 200
Veterans Affairs medical centers, to more than 50 public and private
hospitals in Connecticut and Rhode Island, the media, and interested
citizens.
>>More about
Nasopharyngeal Irradiation
|