[Estimate of the dose in the marrow and the gonads of patients undergoing neoplastic treatment with telecobalt therapy (author's transl)].

Measurements of the doses were carried out on phantoms in order to determine the dose in the marrow and gonads of patients undergoing radio-therapeutic treatment with telecobalt therapy with fixed fields. On average, the dose in the marrow for each treatment resulted to be 2.35 Gy in the male and 5.8 Gy in the female whereas the dose in the gonads for each treatment was on average 0.41 Gy in the male and 0.029 Gy with the exclusion of castrating doses in the female. If one considers the number of patients treated in 1975 with telecobalt therapy with fields (269 men and 309 women) the contribution to the leukaemia dose and to the genetically significant dose can be estimated in approximate terms for the year 1975 in the province of Varese: 0.48 mSv/year and 2.5.10-3 mSv/year respectively. Taking into account the risk factors indicated in publication 26 of the ICRP it can be deduced that in the group of patients treated the expected increase in the number of cases of leukaemia and genetic effects will be 5 and 0.5 respectively.