Radiation Exposure Associated with the Performance of Radiologic Studies in Radioactive Patients

Abstract

Radiologists and technologists are occasionally concerned about the radiation exposure that they may receive during the performance of routine diagnostic radiologic studies that require close proximity to patients who have recently had a radionuclide imaging procedure. For example, patients who undergo MUGA or Disida procedures often require ultrasound (US) and ventilation/perfusion (V/Q) or GI bleeding procedure patients often require angiography. This also impacts on other medical personnel including; transporters, nurses, surgeons, pathologists, etc. This study was conducted in order to calculate the radiation exposure that one may anticipate receiving from a patient who has recently had a nuclear medicine procedure. Radiation exposure (mrem/hr) was measured in 80 patients (10 patients/procedure type) for eight commonly performed nuclear procedures at the skin surface, at 30 cm, and at 1 m, within 1 hr postinjection, with a digital survey meter. The dose administered, patient height, patient weight and the time postinjection of the measurement were recorded. Calculations were made without any allowance for radiation shielding. The radiation exposure associated with performing a radiologic examination which requires close proximity to a radioactive patient is small (50% of a chest radiograph dose or equivalent to performing fluoroscopy with a lead apron). Furthermore, one’s exposure may be reduced significantly by following several “common sense” radiation precautions: allowing time for radioactive decay, increasing one’s distance from the patient, minimizing contact time with the patient or avoided entirely by performing the radiologic study first.