1976 Hanford americium exposure incident: urinary excretion of trace metals during DTPA treatments.

Urine samples from a person treated intravenously with diethyl-enetriaminepentaacetate (DTPA) salts for 3 yr to promote the excretion of 241Am were assayed for 24 elements including almost all of the trace metals currently recognized as essential for good health. Zinc was found to be the only metal excreted more rapidly than normal. An 18-mg urinary loss of body zinc was found to be associated with each 1-g injection of Na3CaDTPA. Use of either Na3ZnDTPA or Na3CaDTPA combined with oral dosages of ZnSO4 appeared to completely compensate for this loss, and it is unlikely that the patient experienced any zinc deficiency due to the DTPA treatment.