ABSTRACT
The haemopoietic cells of the bone marrow are among the most sensitive cells in the body to the damaging effects of ionising radiation (IR) (Young and Alter, 1994). The principal target is the genetic material in the nucleus of each cell (UNSCEAR, 1993). Although the initial effects of IR-related bone marrow damage includes cell toxicity, the most important long-term outcomes are myelodysplasia and leukaemia (Young and Alter, 1994). Leukaemia is the generic description of a group of malignant diseases of the bloodforming cells. Differences in cellular phenotype (Foon and Todd, 1986; van Dongen et al., 1987), chromosomal rearrangements (Pui et al., 1990; Rabbitts, 1994) and descriptive epidemiology of these diseases (Linet, 1985; Cartwright et al., 1990) suggest that they may be aetiologically distinct.
