Communicating Radiation Exposure: A Simple Approach

Wanzhen Zeng

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TABLE 1

Variation of Component of Natural Background Radiation Originating from Earth’s Crust in United States and World

	Annual Effective Dose (μSv)
Region	Cosmic radiation	Terrestrial radiation	Cosmic and terrestrial radiation
Atlantic coast	60	160	230
Rocky Mountains	500	400	900
East, West, and Central			460
Average United States	270	280	550
Average worldwide	390	480	870

Data from (5,6).

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TABLE 2

Effective Dose and BERT

Radioactive agent	Unit effective dose* (mSv/MBq)	Administered activity (MBq)^†	Effective dose	BERT^‡
⁵¹Cr-red blood cells	2.6 × 10⁻¹	5.5	1.4	6 mo
¹⁸F-FDG	3.0 × 10⁻²	185 (brain)	5.6	1.9 y
⁶⁷Ga-citrate	1.1 × 10⁻¹	185 (infection)	20.4	6.8 y
		370 (tumors)	40.7	13.6 y
¹¹¹In-DTPA	4.1 × 10⁻²	24 (cerebral spinal fluid)	1.0	4 mo
¹¹¹In-white blood cells	6.4 × 10⁻¹	25	16.0	5.3 y
¹²³I-hippuran	2.4 × 10⁻²	75	1.8	7 mo
¹²³I-sodium iodide (25% uptake)	1.2 × 10⁻¹	10	1.2	5 mo
¹²⁵I-fibrinogen	6.4	5.5	35.2	11.7 y
¹³¹I-sodium iodide (25% uptake)	6.5	0.4	2.6	10 mo
¹³¹I-MIBG	2.1 × 10⁻¹	18	3.8	1.3 y
^99mTc-bone agent	6.1 × 10⁻³	1110	6.8	2.3 y
^99mTc-DIPIDA/HIDA	2.5 × 10⁻²	185	4.6	1.5 y
^99mTc-DTPA	8.2 × 10⁻³	555 (brain)	4.6	1.5 y
		370 (renal)	3.0	1 y
^99mTc-DTPA aerosol	6.1 × 10⁻³	185 (lung)	1.1	5 mo
^99mTc-DMSA	1.6 × 10⁻²	185 (renal)	3.0	1 y
^99mTc-ECD	1.1 × 10⁻²	740 (brain)	8.1	2.7 y
^99mTc-glucoheptonate	1.0 × 10⁻²	100 (renal)	1.0	4 mo
^99mTc-HMPAO WBCs	2.0 × 10⁻²	400	8.0	2.7 y
^99mTc-HMPAO	1.4 × 10⁻²	1110 (brain)	15.5	5.2 y
^99mTc-MAA	1.3 × 10⁻²	185 (lung)	2.4	10 mo
^99mTc-MAG3	1.2 × 10⁻²	185 (renal)	2.2	9 mo
^99mTc-Na pertechnetate	1.1 × 10⁻²	111 (thyroid)	1.2	5 mo
		225 (Meckel’s diverticulum)	2.5	10 mo
^99mTc-pyrophosphate	6.0 × 10⁻³	1000	6.0	2 y
^99mTc-MIBI	1.5 × 10⁻²	1110 (cardiac)	15.5	5.2 y
		1110 (scintimammography)	15.5	5.2 y
		740 (parathyroid)	11.1	3.7 y
^99mTc-RBCs	7.3 × 10⁻³	740 (cardiovascular study)	5.4	1.8 y
	In vitro labeling	900 (gastrointestinal)	6.6	2.2 y
^99mTc-sulfur colloid	1.4 × 10⁻²	400 (bone marrow)	5.6	1.9 y
		140 (liver)	2.0	8 mo
^99mTc-sulfur colloid aerosol	5.5 × 10⁻³	1000 (lung)	5.5	1.8 y
²⁰¹Tl-chloride	1.6 × 10⁻¹	140 (cardiac)	22.4	7.5 y
¹³³Xe inhalation (5 min)	7.6 × 10⁻⁴	555 (lung)	0.4	2 mo