Identification of thorium dioxide in human liver cells by electron microscopic x-ray microanalysis

Thirty-two years after injection of thorium dioxide (Thorotrast) for diagnostic x-ray studies in a female patient deposits were found by light microscopy in the liver macrophages (Kupffer cells). They were shown by electron microscopy to be located inside secondary lysosomes, and by autoradiography and x-ray microanalysis they were identified as thorium.