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Research ArticleCONTINUING EDUCATION

Minimizing and Communicating Radiation Risk in Pediatric Nuclear Medicine

Frederic H. Fahey, S. Ted Treves and S. James Adelstein
Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology March 2012, 40 (1) 13-24; DOI: https://doi.org/10.2967/jnumed.109.069609
Frederic H. Fahey
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S. Ted Treves
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S. James Adelstein
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  • FIGURE 1.
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    FIGURE 1.

    Number of nuclear medicine procedures in United States from 1984 to 2006. In this time span, number of nuclear medicine procedures increased by almost factor of 3, from 6.3 to 18.1 million (4).

  • FIGURE 2.
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    FIGURE 2.

    Estimated annual per capita adult effective dose in United States. Chart on left illustrates distribution of effective dose in 1980–1982. Chart on right shows distribution in 2006 (6).

  • FIGURE 3.
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    FIGURE 3.

    Dose response for incidence of solid cancer as function of weighted colon dose as derived from Life Span Study. Weighted colon dose was used as surrogate for whole-body dose within Life Span Study. Solid line demonstrates linear fit through data. (Reprinted with permission of (36).)

  • FIGURE 4.
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    FIGURE 4.

    Excess relative risk per dose (ERR/Gy) of thyroid cancer from 6 epidemiologic studies including Life Span Study. Excess relative risk is traditional relative risk minus 1 (e.g., if relative risk is 2.5, then excess relative risk is 1.5) and represents fractional increase in natural disease rate as result of exposure in question. □ = value adjusted for nonzero intercept because lower bound was less than zero. Most subjects in these studies were children. Results show consistency. (Reprinted with permission of (40).)

  • FIGURE 5.
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    FIGURE 5.

    Extrapolation models for estimating radiation risk at low dose. Image shows 4 models: linear, no threshold (solid black line); linear, with threshold (dashed black line); super linear (blue line); and hormetic (red line) (42).

  • FIGURE 6.
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    FIGURE 6.

    Lifetime attributable risk of cancer death as function of age at time of exposure and sex resulting from 10-mSv exposure. Dashed lines indicate attributable risk levels of 1 in 700, 1 in 1,000, and 1 in 2,000 corresponding to sex-averaged risk for 1-, 10-, and 40-y-old, respectively (3).

  • FIGURE 7.
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    FIGURE 7.

    Demonstration of 1 in 2,500 risk in comparison to 550 in 2,500. For example of 10-y-old receiving 99mTc-MDP bone scan, excess attributable risk for cancer death is 1 in 2,500. In this figure, there are 2,500 small circles. Lone red star at lower right represents 1 case in 2,500 in which bone scan patient may contract fatal cancer. In addition, there are 550 dark blue circles that represent number of the original 2,500 that will naturally die of cancer (22%).

Tables

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    TABLE 1

    Estimates of Critical Organ and Effective Dose for Common Pediatric Nuclear Medicine Procedures

    Max admin act (MBq)1-y-old5-y-old10-y-old15-y-oldAdult
    Mass (kg)9.719.833.256.870
    99mTc-MDP*740
     Bone surface (mGy)54.546.045.649.246.6
     Effective dose (mSv)2.82.93.94.24.2
    99mTc-ECD†740
     Bladder wall (mGy)13.423.030.537.237.0
     Effective dose (mSv)4.14.65.35.95.7
    99mTc-sestamibi*740
     Gallbladder (mGy)32.920.920.427.028.9
     Effective dose (mSv)5.45.96.37.26.7
    99mTc-MAG3*370
     Bladder wall (mGy)17.219.831.344.142.7
     Effective dose (mSv)1.21.32.22.82.7
    123I-MIBG*370
     Liver (mGy)16.618.522.425.624.8
     Effective dose (mSv)3.43.84.55.04.8
    18F-FDG†370
     Bladder wall (mGy)25.635.944.448.850.5
     Effective dose (mSv)5.25.96.67.37.4
    • ↵* Based on ICRP 80 (25).

    • ↵† Based on ICRP 106 (26).

    • Max admin act = maximum administered activity is that administered to adult or large child (70 kg) (administered activities for smaller children are scaled by body weight); ECD = ethylcysteinate dimer; MIBG = metaiodobenzylguanidine.

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    TABLE 2

    Adult Effective Doses (mSv) for Radiographic and Nuclear Medicine Procedures

    ProcedureAverage effective dose (mSv)
    Posterior/anterior and lateral chest radiography0.1
    99mTc-radionuclide cystography0.1
    Mammography0.4
    Lumbar spine radiography1.5
    Head CT2.0
    99mTc-MAG3 renal scanning2.7
    Intravenous urography3.0
    99mTc-MDP bone scanning4.2
    123I-metaiodobenzylguanidine scanning4.8
    99mTc-ethylcysteinate dimer brain scanning5.7
    Pelvic CT6.0
    99mTc-sestamibi for stress/rest cardiac scanning6.7
    Chest CT7.0
    Coronary angiography7.0
    18F-FDG PET scanning7.4
    Abdominal CT8.0
    Coronary angioplasty with stent placement15.0
    • Radiopharmaceutical doses are from Table 1 except 99mTc-radionuclide cystogram dose (24–27). Radiographic doses are from Mettler et al. (23).

    • View popup
    TABLE 3

    Estimate of Radiation Dose to Anthropomorphic Phantom from CT Component of Hybrid Imaging as Function of Patient Size and Tube Current

    Patient size40 mA80 mA160 mA
    Newborn5.0510.120.20
    1-y-old4.458.8917.78
    5-y-old4.088.1616.31
    10-y-old3.677.3514.69
    Medium adult2.555.1010.19
    • All data were acquired with tube voltage of 120 kVp, rotation speed of 0.8 s, and pitch of 1.5:1. All data were acquired with 160 mA and linearly scaled for the various tube currents shown here (30).

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    TABLE 4

    Lifetime Excess Attributable Risk of Mortality per 100,000 Individuals for 10-mSv Whole-Body Exposure (3)

    Tumor typeSexNewborn10-y-old40-y-old
    BreastF27.416.73.5
    LungF64.344.221.2
    M31.821.910.7
    ColonF10.27.33.7
    M16.311.76.0
    All solidF17210545.5
    M10364.131.0
    LeukemiaF5.35.35.2
    M7.17.16.7
    • View popup
    TABLE 5

    Administered Activity and Estimates of Radiation Dose and Additional Relative Risk for 99mTc-MAG3

    Age (y)Weight (kg)Administered activity (MBq)Effective dose (mSv)Risk (%)
    19.753.81.20.04
    519.8109.91.30.03
    1033.2184.32.20.05
    1556.8315.22.80.05
    2070.0388.52.70.04
    4070.0388.52.70.02
    • View popup
    TABLE 6

    Lifetime Risk of Death from Everyday Activities in United States (69)

    ActivityLifetime risk
    Assault214
    Accident while riding in car304
    Accident as pedestrian652
    Choking894
    Accidental poisoning1,030
    Drowning1,127
    Exposure to fire or smoke1,181
    Cancer from 18F-FDG PET scan (10-y-old)1,515
    Falling down stairs2,024
    Cancer from 99mTc-MDP bone scan (10-y-old)2,560
    Cancer from 18F-FDG PET scan (40-y-old)2,700
    All forces of nature3,190
    Accident while riding bike4,734
    Cancer from 99mTc-MDP bone scan (40-y-old)4,760
    Accidental firearms discharge6,333
    Accident while riding in plane7,058
    Falling off ladder or scaffolding10,606
    Hit by lightning84,388
    • Lifetime risk of 304 for accident while riding in car indicates that 1 of every 304 Americans will die as result of accident while riding in car during his or her lifetime.

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Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology: 40 (1)
Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
Vol. 40, Issue 1
March 1, 2012
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Minimizing and Communicating Radiation Risk in Pediatric Nuclear Medicine
Frederic H. Fahey, S. Ted Treves, S. James Adelstein
Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology Mar 2012, 40 (1) 13-24; DOI: 10.2967/jnumed.109.069609

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Minimizing and Communicating Radiation Risk in Pediatric Nuclear Medicine
Frederic H. Fahey, S. Ted Treves, S. James Adelstein
Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology Mar 2012, 40 (1) 13-24; DOI: 10.2967/jnumed.109.069609
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  • Article
    • Abstract
    • DOSIMETRY OF PEDIATRIC NUCLEAR MEDICINE
    • RADIATION RISK IN CHILDREN
    • EVALUATION OF RADIATION RISK FOR PEDIATRIC NUCLEAR MEDICINE
    • COMMUNICATION OF RISK TO PARENTS AND CHILDREN
    • DOSE REDUCTION IN PEDIATRIC NUCLEAR MEDICINE
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