HEMODOSE: A Biodosimetry Tool Based on Multi-type Blood Cell Counts

Abstract

Peripheral blood cell counts are important biomarkers of radiation exposure. In this work, a simplified compartmental modeling approach is applied to simulate the perturbation of the hematopoiesis system in humans after radiation exposure, and HemoDose software is reported to estimate individuals' absorbed doses based on multi-type blood cell counts. Testing with patient data in some historical accidents indicates that either single or serial granulocyte, lymphocyte, leukocyte, and platelet counts after exposure can be robust indicators of the absorbed doses. In addition, such correlation exists not only in the early time window (1 or 2 d) but also in the late phase (up to 4 wk) after exposure, when the four types of cell counts are combined for analysis. These demonstrate the capability of HemoDose as a rapid point-of-care diagnostic or centralized high-throughput assay system for personnel exposed to unintended high doses of radiation, especially in large-scale nuclear/radiological disaster scenarios involving mass casualties.

Fig. 1

The “Model Historical Data” tab of HemoDose after the granulocyte module is selected. The simulation result is depicted in the lower-right plot for the 2.5 [2.0–3.0] Gy group (17 patients) in the Chernobyl accident.

Fig. 2

HemoDose model simulations of the Chernobyl accident data. The temporal profile of granulocyte, lymphocyte, and platelet counts are those of two cohorts of Chernobyl accident patients (mean absorbed dose 1.1 Gy and 5.0 Gy, respectively), which are adapted from Guskova et al. (2001).

Fig. 3

HemoDose model simulations of the Y-12 plant accident data. The temporal profile of granulocyte, lymphocyte, leukocyte, and platelet counts of patient A in the Y-12 plant accident are reproduced from Andrews and Sitterson (1959) and Fliedner et al. (1996).

Fig. 4

Short time windows simulations. HemoDose model simulations of the absorbed dose of patient A in the Y-12 plant accident based on the lymphocyte counts in different time windows after exposure. Clinical data were reproduced from Andrews and Sitterson (1959).

Fig. 5

Single point simulations of the absorbed dose of patient A in Y-12 plant accident. (a) granulocyte counts, (b) lymphocyte counts, (c) leukocyte counts, (d) platelet counts.

Fig. 6

Comparison of estimated doses by HemoDose and cytogenetic method for five patients in the Bulgaria accident. The 95% confidence interval of each method was used to plot the error bars (Djounova et al. 2012). Same protocol of cytogenetic analysis was used in NCRRP and IRSN (Gregoire et al. 2013).