Polonium (210)Po activities in human blood of patients with ischaemic heart disease from Gdańsk in Poland

The determination of polonium (210)Po in human blood samples is presented and discussed in this paper. The human blood samples were collected from patients of Medical University of Gdańsk with ischaemic heart disease (morbus ischaemicus cordis, MIC). The polonium concentrations in analyzed human blood samples are very differentiated. (210)Po is of particular interest in public health and although is present in the environment in extremely low amounts, it is easily bioaccumulated to the human body. The study shows that the amount of (210)Po that is incorporated into the human body depends on the food habits and some difference in its levels could be observed between smokers and non-smokers.