A study on chromosome aberration in medical diagnostic X-ray workers by fluorescence in situ hybridization

Objective To study long term radiation effect in occupational workers exposed to low dose X ray using the method of fluorescene in situ hybridization (FISH). Methods The peripheral lymphocyte chromosome aberrations from 25 medical X ray workers and 10 controls were analyzed by FISH with probes of chromosomes 4 and 7 and verified with Giemsa staining. Results The chromosome translocations of X ray workers were 84% of all chromosomes in this group. Ins (insertion), Dic(dicentric) and Ace(acentric fragment) were 2%, 5% and 10% respectively. The frequencies of chromosome translocations and total aberrations in X ray workers were higher than those of controls( P 0 01). Chromosome translocations appeared to be increased along with the prolongation of working years in their position. According to the calendar year of entry before/after the year of 1965 as the border, the data showed that the chromosome translocation of the before 1965 was higher than that of the corresponding controls( P 0 01) and the chromosome translocation of the after 1965 was not higher than that of the corresponding controls( P 0 05). Conclusion Chromosome aberrations were shown in the peripheral lymphocyte of medical X ray workers with translocations predominantly.