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European Approach for Acute Radiation Syndrome’s Management Facing Radiological and Nuclear Threats: A Call for Arms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2025

Marc Benderitter ,
Pierre Arnautou ,
Cornelius Bartels ,
Deborah Benchetrit ,
Lacramioara Bordea ,
Sanda Buruiana ,
Bruno Cessac ,
Sylvain Choquet ,
Sergiy Klymenko  and
Karol Lyzinski Open the ORCID record for Karol Lyzinski [Opens in a new window]
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Marc Benderitter*
Affiliation:
Direction de la Santé, Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire et de Radioprotection , Fontenay-aux-Roses, France
Pierre Arnautou
Affiliation:
Service d’hématologie Clinique, Hôpital d’Instruction des Armées Percy, Clamart, France
Cornelius Bartels
Affiliation:
Response to Nuclear Security Events & Medical Emergency Preparedness, RN7, Federal Office for Radiation Protection , Berlin, Germany
Deborah Benchetrit
Affiliation:
Service des urgences, Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France
Lacramioara Bordea
Affiliation:
Emergency Department, University Emergency Hospital of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
Sanda Buruiana
Affiliation:
Department of Hematology, Nicolae Tetemitanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy , Chisinau, Moldova
Bruno Cessac
Affiliation:
Direction de la Santé, Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire et de Radioprotection , Fontenay-aux-Roses, France
Sylvain Choquet
Affiliation:
Service d’hématologie clinique, Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière, 83, boulevard de l’Hôpital, 75013 Paris, France
Sergiy Klymenko
Affiliation:
Feofaniya Clinical Hospital , Kyiv, Ukraine
Karol Lyzinski
Affiliation:
Department of Disaster and Emergency Medicine, Jagiellonian University Medical College , Krakow, Poland
Jean Valhaire Malfuson
Affiliation:
Service d’hématologie Clinique, Hôpital d’Instruction des Armées Percy, Clamart, France
Yannick Morel
Affiliation:
Direction générale de la Santé, Ministère de la Santé et de l’accès aux soins, Paris, France
Mohamad Mothy
Affiliation:
Service d’hématologie clinique et thérapie cellulaire, Hôpital Saint Antoine, Paris, France
Silvia Nica
Affiliation:
Emergency Department, University Emergency Hospital of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
Jean-Marc Philippe
Affiliation:
Direction générale de la Santé, Ministère de la Santé et de l’accès aux soins, Paris, France
Ray Powles
Affiliation:
Haemato-oncology, Cancer Centre London, Parkside, London, England
Catherine Smallwood
Affiliation:
WHO Regional Office for Europe, UN City, København, Denmark
Leif Pr Stenke
Affiliation:
Karolinska University Hospital and Karolinska Institutet MedS , Stockholm, Sweden
Tomas Steponkus
Affiliation:
Lithuanian University of Health Sciences , Kaunas, Lithuania
Radia Tamarat
Affiliation:
Direction de la Santé, Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire et de Radioprotection , Fontenay-aux-Roses, France
Alina Tanase
Affiliation:
Bone Marrow Transplantation Unit of Fundeni Clinical Institute, Bucharest, Romania
Arkadiusz Trzos
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, Department of Disaster and Emergency Medicine, Jagiellonian University Medical College , Kraków, Poland
Zhanat Kenbayeva
Affiliation:
WHO Headquarters, Genève, Switzerland.
*
Corresponding author: Marc Benderitter; Email: marc.benderitter@asnr.fr
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Abstract

The increasing concern related to radiological and nuclear threats within the European Union (EU) has intensified the regional preparedness needs. The anticipated number of injured, contaminated, and irradiated individuals may range from a few to hundreds of thousands, necessitating immediate emergency medical care and hospitalization. Given this potential influx of casualties, the medical teams responsible for initial management may become rapidly overwhelmed, facing immense pressure to formulate appropriate response strategies and treatment options. Therefore, it is critical to establish appropriate supra-national recommendations and appropriate national protocols to guide medical decision-making in such extraordinary circumstances. The EU is proactively preparing for this worst-case scenario. Drawing on a robust and remaining state-of-the-art reference consensus regarding the medical management of mass radiation exposure, a well-established network of 550 European Society for Bone and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) centers and emergency medicine specialists, and two decades of collective experience in managing acute radiation syndrome (ARS) patients. The European Commission (EC), in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) Europe, is accelerating the dissemination of medical response protocols. This initiative includes the education of healthcare professionals and the implementation of a strategic stockpile of medical countermeasures to address nuclear-related threats effectively.

Keywords

Acute Radiation SyndromeNuclear and radiological threatsCall for arms

Information

Type
Concepts in Disaster Medicine
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 19 , 2025 , e314
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc

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This article has been updated since original publication. A notice detailing the change has also been published.

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