Reducing Radiation Exposure During Oral I-131 Therapy Administration

Abstract

A new, closed-system method to reduce air-, direct-, and incidental-contamination during therapeutic administration of oral I-131 was experimentally evaluated on twelve patients. We studied a standard control population using the routine practice of drinking the solution through a straw and compared results with our new technique. Various measurements were performed throughout all phases of dose administration to assess the relative difference of the two approaches. Using the closed system method before and during iodine administration revealed between 100 and 1000 times less activity per millimeter of air sample; whereas, the direct radiation exposure values were higher for the control population. Both the experimental and control methods had similar levels of incidental contamination.