University of Virginia Library

Radium Cylinder Disappears From Hospital

University Medical Center authorities today
asked newspapers and broadcasting
stations to enlist public aid in locating a small
metal capsule of radium used in cancer
treatment which has disappeared from the
University Hospital.

The lead-colored cylinder, about three-quarters
of an inch in length, and an eighth of
an inch in diameter, has an eyelet at one end
and bears the engraved number 189.

Anyone who recalls seeing such an object
recently should advise the University Security
Office, telephone 924-3055.

Radiation from the capsule is not dangerous
unless the capsule is broken or kept close
to the body for several days, according to
Jack Wakley, Medical Center health physicist.
"If someone carried it around in the same
pocket regularly, in about a week he would
begin to suffer a burn that could be healed
fairly so he said.

The platinum iridium tube, containing five
milligrams of radium was reported missing in
the regular daily capsule count on March 13.
University patients involved in radium therapy
at that time have been checked. In addition,
special detection devices have been used by
the University in searching for the missing
capsule in related hospital areas, trash
receptacles, incinerators, sewer lines and
dumps. State and Federal health authorities
were also brought in to assist.

Other searches by experts from Richmond
have proved fruitless and Federal authorities
who reviewed the University's resulting
reports agreed that all possible searches had
been completed, according to a University
spokesman.

The capsule is worth about $200, Wakley
said, and was on loan from the U.S. Public
Health Service.