241Am removal by DTPA vs. occurrence of skeletal malignancy.

Beagle dogs injected with 241Am and treated subsequently with DTPA exhibited a reduced occurrence of skeletal malignancies and increased lifespans when compared to corresponding untreated animals also given 241Am. Whereas 92% of dogs given about 11 kBq 241Am kg(-1) and not treated with DTPA developed bone cancer (skeletal dose about 5.9 Gy), skeletal malignancy was seen in only 40% and 27%, respectively, among two groups of DTPA-treated animals injected with 11 kBq kg(-1) (doses of 5.7 and 1.7 Gy). The median lifespan among the untreated dogs was 1,728 d, but the median lifespans in the DTPA-treated groups were 2,478 and 3,654 d, respectively. Untreated dogs with a skeletal dose averaging about 2 Gy had 53% bone cancer occurrence and a median lifespan of 3,227 d. These data did not enable us to address the question of whether the reduction in cancer occurrence was proportional to, greater than, or less than the reduction in skeletal dose, but the third possibility seems unlikely.