Medical history of Masato Shinohara

Masato Shinohara was Ouchi's supervisor and Yokokawa's employee. Commonly in medical documents he is referred to as Patient B but in one document I saw him mentioned as Patient S. however only there. Shinohara left the room immediately upon criticality however before he was above the precipitation tank pouring the uranium and was exposed to 10Gy. Other information about him includes his weight at 67kg and height at 180cm.

30/9/1999 (day of the accident): Shinohara felt his whole arm numb immediately after exposure, lasting for a day. After an hour, he began vomiting. During his transport to the National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS), he was on an IV due to loss of fluid.

At NIRS, Shinohara had a fever higher than 38,5C, the front of his body was reddened, and described tenderness when touching his salivary glands. He remained at NIRS.

4/10: Shinohara was transferred to the Institute of Medical Science, which was part of the University of Tokyo Hospital. His white blood cell count was dropping rapidly. No donor was found for Shinohara and so he would receive an umbilical cord transplant. 

6/10: Shinohara's white blood cell count reached zero. He could still communicate normally and there was no skin loss, diarrhea or vomiting. 

10/10: The blood cells were transplanted. Shinohara had red and yellow burns on his face. He had increasing pain in his mouth.

13/10: The pain worsened.

14/10: The mucus membrane inside Shinohara's mouth had turned red and ulcers were forming on the lining of his cheeks. Externally, there was no change in appearance.

15/10: The sores inside Shinohara's mouth worsened. His fever worsened the inflammation in his mouth. 

16/10: Shinohara vomited and had intense pain in his throat.

17/10: It was deemed that Shinohara suffered an infection and antibiotics were administered. Intravenous feeding began.

18/10: Bone marrow cells were taken and antibiotics helped with the pain. Shinohara's skin and the rest of his organs remained stable. 

19/10: Shinohara's mouth improved and the pain lessened. There was pain in his fingertips.

20/10: Stronger medication was administered. 

21/10: The transplanted blood cells had taken. The pain worsened and his fingertips reddened and swelled. He also had pain in his feet. Shinohara was exhausted after all the examinations. He was given even stronger medication. There was an increase in white blood cells.

23/10: Shinohara did not swell more and his skin color did not change.

24/10: The pain worsened. Shinohara's face swelled. He could sleep without sedatives.

25/10: Shinohara's fingertips and soles turned numb and he felt a stabbing pain in the general area.

26/10: Blisters spread from Shinohara's fingertips to his hands and to his wrist, his fever rose.

27/10: The transplanted cells were helping Shinohara. Blisters spread on the soles of his feet. 

28/10: The blisters spread further. His throat inflammation lessened and he could consume liquids.

29/10: Shinohara felt less pain and was stable.

9/11-11/11: Slight vomiting. Limited spread of blisters, stable condition. The red and yellow burns began to disappear.

15/11: Skin changes.

19/11: Shinohara developed blisters on his stomach, hands, feet, and face. 

20/11: Blisters were discovered on the thighs and scrotum. At the spots where Shinohara's skin was peeling, the cells underneath were present and looked burnt. Dressings were placed over his skin. Changing them was extremely painful for Shinohara. 

His fever worsened, he could not sleep, and was exhausted and drowsy. He was administered steroids, which also helped with the inflammation. It had an adverse effect on his liver.

3/12: Shinohara had a blood transfusion to account for blood loss. He was in good spirits and his epidermis was starting to recover, however portions of it bled more frequently. 

6/12: Shinohara was in pain due to a significant bowel movement which subsided. His pain worsened with more bowel movements. 67% of Shinohara's body was covered in second degree burns. 

18/12: Skin transplant was performed to Shinohara's legs, which succeeded.

20/12: The burnt layer of skin had completely fallen off. The new layer was peeling as well, however there wasn't any skin below it.

22/12: Shinohara was informed about the death of Ouchi. He cried for his friend and himself, worrying for what awaited him. He was comforted and told that once he got better, he could go pay respects to his friend's family.

28/12: Shinohara received skin grafts to his arms. They were successful.

1/1/2000: Shinohara was healthy enough to leave his room in a wheelchair. Soon, he could no longer open his eyes, which was uncomfortable, and then could no longer move his hands and feet. The rest of skin began peeling, exposing bloody tissue. Transplanted skin to his legs took.

12/1: Shinohara's mouth hurt to the point that he could not be fed orally, and was fed through a nose tube. 100% of the transplanted skin on the right leg and 85% on the left leg had completely bound. 

18/1: Shinohara underwent rehabilitation such as standing up, sitting down, and moving his fingers as anything more complex could damage the grafts. 

20/1: Antibiotics were no longer administered, leading to intense disinfectant application, causing damage to Shinohara. The left joint on his leg was improving, the right one not enough, which caused Shinohara great pain when standing up and forbade walking. 

27/1: Skin graft operation on the face. Rehabilitation continued and blood loss lessened. More skin grafts were done on his midsection, upper arms, and lower back.

February-March: Shinohara's condition worsened, however medical reports ceased despite him being in pain and following down the path of Ouchi.

Shinohara developed fibrosis of the skin (excess fiber), possibly by excessive healing and inflammation of the skin below, and his skin hardened. He could no longer use his arms or legs. The pain on the joint of his right leg worsened. Transplanted skin became fibrous as well. 

21/2: Bleeding began in the gastrointestinal tract, firstly from the upper intestines and then to the stomach, requiring blood transfusions. Feeding nasally stopped and instead Shinohara was fed through an intravenous drip. 

Beginning of March: Shinohara caught MRSA. The mucus of his mouth wore away and drooped, creating ulcers. He also developed obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, meaning that when he was asleep, Shinohara was not breathing. He also had cytomegalovirus, resulting in inflammation of the gland of his mouth and pain in his throat. Shinohara also had pneumonia and his lungs were full of fluid, leading to his trachea being cut to link his breathing to an artificial respirator apparatus. 

10/4: Shinohara was transferred to the intensive care unit of the University of Tokyo Hospital and under the care of the same doctors who treated Ouchi. 

17/4: Shinohara's kidneys stopped working and he was put on dialysis. His lungs and liver declined in function.

27/4: At 7:25AM, Shinohara's lungs were filled with blood and fluid, his skin could not stretch to allow for breathing. 

Masato Shinohara passed away in his sleep 210 days after exposure at forty years old, developing mainly acute bone marrow syndrome, radiation skin injury and fibrosis of lung and kidney. 

During his autopsy, the skin was cut to view the progress of the transplants, and it crunched, shocking everyone. His torso and instestinal tract were extremely damaged and there were almost no stem cells in his bone marrow. Due to the graphic nature of the images of Shinohara in the hospital and post mortem, they will be included in another blog post. May he rest in peace.