Canadian Journal of Pure & Applied Sciences

Abstract: This study was conducted in order to calculate the radiation exposure that infants may anticipate receiving from a parent who has recently had a nuclear medicine procedure. Radiation dose rate (?Sv/24hr) was measured in 34 patients (by a digital survey meter) for four commonly performed nuclear medicine procedures (bone, liver/spleen, renal and thyroid) at the skin surface, 10, 30, 60, 100 and at 150 cm from the patient, within 3 and 1 hr (3 hrs for bone scan patients and 1 hr for the other three procedures) postinjection. The measurements were performed also for different sides of the patients (anterior, posterior, left and right). For bone scans, a normal injected dose of technetium-99m-MDP (99mTc-MDP) resulted in a radiation exposure (from posterior side of the patient) 0f (760 ± 162) ?Sv/24hr at the skin surface, (431 ± 107) ?Sv/24hr at 10 cm, (197 ± 40) ?Sv/24hr at 30 cm, 84 ± 20 at 60 cm, (40 ± 07) ?Sv/24hr at 100 cm and (22 ± 7) ?Sv/24hr at 150 cm. Also for the bone, the radiation dose rate measurements obtained (from left side of the patient) were (563± 117) ?Sv/24hr at the skin surface, (349 ± 83) ?Sv/24hr at 10 cm, (139 ± 30) ?Sv/24hr at 30 cm, (59 ± 1) ?Sv/24hr at 60 cm, (31 ± 9) ?Sv/24hr at 100 cm and (15 ± 4) ?Sv/24hr at 150 m. We found that the variations in percentage (%) between posterior and left side mean measurements were 25.9, 19.0, 29.4, 29.8, 22.5 and 31.8 % at the skin, 10, 30, 60, 100 and 150 cm respectively. When we search for a “conservative” values and concepts, concerning the radiation safety related to the radioactive patient, we believe that anterior and posterior sides values must be taken into account, especially for the cases that required measurements taken from positions in close proximity of the patient. Public personnel must be educated in nuclear medicine procedures to minimize exposure to their relatives (infants).