Autopsy for Saving People, Autopsy for PEACE ①Doctors fought, Hibakusya left the voices. "75Years A_Bomb,Hiroshima"Dr.Soko Day35/50

Autopsy Data Tells What Nuclear Weapon Is

　The survivors who was exposed have desperately announced their experience although they do not like to touch the past any more. On the other hand, there are the voices of the dead victims left. 

Autopsy data is telling what Nuclear weapons are, to us who currently have 14,000 of nuclear weapons on the earth.

Autopsy for Saving PeopleFight as a Doctor

Pathological data is also a legacy of the dedication of doctors who worked immediately after the atomic bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where radiation had still remained.

Dr. Michihiko Hachiya, who was the director of Hiroshima Teishin Hospital at the time, and Dr. Chuta Tamagawa, an assistant professor of pathology at Okayama Medical University, felt their own helplessness. People died with unexplained spots on the body, or unexplained white blood cells decreasing. People died one after another. Doctors needed to catch a cause to get a key to cure people.

"What do we do without dissecting?"

 "Unless we dissect, we cannot understand the cause!"

Every day and night, they dissected the dead people and devoted themselves to clarifying what happened to a human body with the atomic bomb. 

Prohibition of Medical Research on Atomic Bomb

The autopsy results of those who died by the atomic bomb are to tell the people of the world today about what nuclear weapons will bring about humans. However, Japanese scientists had been banned from publishing research on the atomic bomb after the war. GHQ ordered the prohibition of representing the study at a committee of the Japan Science Council on November 1945. It's not a ban now, of course, but  the medical  data of the atomic bomb seems rarely spread to the general public due to the influence of those days. 

Furthermore, I as a doctor, think that  the past atomic bomb data and medical materials should be re-evaluated with our contemporary science.  

Who can effectively utilize the data that the victims left for peace?

That is us. We can.

We have 14,000 nuclear weapons in the world today. 

But we can, I think.

／／／／

18 year old female, no physical trauma, WBC(white blood cell count) decreased

*("atomic bomb disaster research reports" Nippon Gakujutsu ShinkoKaikan,1953)

The woman, 18 year old was exposed at the Hiroshima Central Telephone Station (another experience in HTCS) in Shimonakamachi, 550 m from the hypocenter.

She was caught on fire but had no burns. After that, she got a poor appetite and could hardly eat.

On the 7th day of exposure, she entered the Saijo Clinic and was given an infusion of Ringer's solution. 

Day 9: White membrane (pseudo-membrane) was found on her tongue.

Day 11: She had a fever. Lymph glands and chest were normal.

Day 13: Fever, 39.4℃. Three ulcers were observed on her tongue.

Day 15: The number of white blood cells was 2700 and the number of red blood cells was 3.93 million, which were decreased.

Day 16: Fever was 40.3℃. She was given 250 ml of blood transfusion.

Day 17: She passed away.

Pathological Findings

Throat: Right necrotic tonsillitis and pharyngeal edema were seen. (Right tonsil membrane had ulcers and pharynx was swollen.)

Bleeding: Bleeding was observed in the stomach, kidneys, appendix, and ovaries. It is presumed that she was in a condition of easy bleeding. 

Bone Marrow: There were few cells in the bone marrow (*Bone Marrow is an organ to produce blood cells.) . It was considered that her bone marrow was not functioning.

Explanation: The presence of throat inflammation such as pharyngeal edema, suggests the possibility of so-called airway burns is not zero. However, since there is no burn on the surrounding skin, it is considered unlikely.

In other words, it is likely that radiation caused abnormalities in the pharyngeal mucosa.  According to the statistics of the acute symptoms of the A-bomb survivors, "soar throat" was observed at a high rate.

In the autopsy case without airway burn, pharyngeal edema and tonsillar ulcer were common findings. Therefore, it can be said that the mucosal lesions in the pharynx and tonsils were largely due to radiation exposure. (It is not stated whether this 18-year-old woman complained of a symptom "sore throat" in the record)

In the bone marrow pathology, few cells that make blood in the bone marrow could be observed. The bone marrow disfunction was likely one of the death causes. Because the number of White Blood Cell (WBC) were reduced, her immune function was lowered. Her fever of 40℃ indicates she got severe infection. Maybe she had septic shock and multiple organ failure (the state multiple organs cannot work.) . In addition, it is considered that platelets decreased, bleeding occurred in multiple organs, and also multiple organ failure occurred.

Abnormalities in the bone marrow are clearly due to radiation damage.

**Reference)Exposure experience at the same place: Experiences of those exposed at Hiroshima Central Telephone Office同じ場所での被曝