Utteridge, T. D., Charlton, D. E. and Allen, B. J. Monte Carlo Modeling of the Effects of Injected Short-, Medium- and Longer-Range Alpha-Particle Emitters on Human Marrow at Various Ages. Radiat. Res. 156, 413–418 (2001).

The effects of injected short-, medium- and longer-range α-particle emitters (¹⁴⁹Tb, ²¹¹At/²¹¹Po and ²¹³Bi/²¹³Po, respectively) on the total hemopoietic stem cell population of active normal bone marrow in humans of various ages has been estimated using Monte Carlo modeling. The fraction of the normal hemopoietic stem cells that are hit and survive has been calculated as a first step toward estimating the risk of development of therapy-induced leukemia. The fraction was lowest for the shorter-range α-particle emitter (¹⁴⁹Tb) and highest for the longer-range α-particle emitter (²¹³Bi/²¹³Po), with the value for the medium-range α-particle emitter ²¹¹At/²¹¹Po being intermediate between these. There was little variation in the data with the age of the subject within each α-particle emitter. This lack of age dependence provides reassurance that the fraction of cells hit in any subject of any age with normal marrow can be estimated by modeling newborn marrow (which requires little computing time) despite age-related differences in microarchitecture.