Epidemiological follow-up study of Japanese Thorotrast cases--1980.

An epidemiological follow-up study was conducted on 272 Thorotrast-administered war-wounded ex-servicemen to determine their status as of 31 December 1980, after a lapse of 35-43 yr from Thorotrast injection. In the 251 cases who had been intravascularly injected with Thorotrast in the past, 40 malignant hepatic tumors, 3 blood diseases, 2 lung cancers, 1 osteosarcoma, 22 other malignant tumors, and 13 cases of liver cirrhosis were found. The mortality rates due to hepatic and other malignant tumors, blood diseases, and cirrhosis of the liver as well as the overall mortality rate were significantly higher in the intravascular-Thorotrast group than in the controls. In the remaining 21 cases, who had been given Thorotrast by a route other than intravascularly, none of the deaths was found to be related to Thorotrast administration.