Features of Clinical Manifestations of the Primary Reaction in Combined Radiation Injury (Radiation Exposure and Mechanical Head Injury)

Purpose: To describe, on the basis of literature data, the features of the primary reaction of a person with a combined radiation injury – radiation exposure and mechanical head injury – in order to substantiate the possibility of using the symptoms of the primary reaction to predict the severity of acute radiation sickness (ARS).

Material and methods: Analysis of literature data.

Results: Based on the literature data, the clinical symptoms of the primary reaction in human radiation damage in a different dose range, and traumatic brain injuries are described: – concussion of the brain; – mild brain injury; – moderate brain injury.

To characterize the clinical picture of the combined effects of radiation injury and mechanical head injury, the symptoms of the primary reaction were compared with the symptoms of traumatic brain injury. Such symptoms of the primary reaction as vomiting, nausea, headache, dizziness in the most severe form of traumatic brain injury – a moderate brain injury – are diagnosed somewhat more often than in acute radiation sickness. In less severe forms of traumatic brain injury – concussion, mild brain injury – the frequency and severity of these symptoms are close to ARS.

In the complex clinical picture of combined radiation exposure and traumatic brain injury, the most different symptoms of the two components of combined radiation damage are the state of consciousness and the characteristics of the skin.

Conclusion: Clinical symptoms of the primary reaction to radiation exposure in conditions of combined radiation damage in the presence of head trauma lose their diagnostic significance for the early prognosis of the severity of developing ARS. In the clinical picture of combined radiation exposure and mechanical head injury, the most pronounced leading components should be the state of consciousness and the characteristics of the skin.