RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Reducing Radiation Exposure from PET Patients
JF Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
JO J. Nucl. Med. Technol.
FD Society of Nuclear Medicine
SP jnmt.121.263223
DO 10.2967/jnmt.121.263223
A1 Shorouk Dannoon
A1 Saud Alenezi
A1 Naheel Al-Nafisi
A1 Samar Almutairi
A1 Fatma Dashti
A1 Medhat Osman
A1 Abdelhamaid Elgazzar
YR 2022
UL http://tech.snmjournals.org/content/early/2022/04/19/jnmt.121.263223.abstract
AB Objective: This study measured the typical emitted radiation rate from the urinary bladder of PET patients after their scan and investigated simple methods for reducing the emitted radiation before discharge. Methods: The study included 83 patients, 63 [18F]FDG and 20 [18F]NaF. Emitted radiation from the patients’ urinary bladder was measured with an ionization survey meter at a 1-meter distance, presuming the urinary bladder to be the primary source of radiation. The measurements were taken at different time points after PET image acquisition: immediate (pre-void 1), voided (post-void 1), after waiting 30 min in the uptake room while drinking 500 mL of water (pre-void 2) and voided again (post-void 2). Results: For [18F]FDG patients, the reduction of emitted radiation due to drinking water and voiding alone from pre-void 1 to decay corrected post void 2 was an average of 22.49 ± 7.48% (13.65 ± 3.42 µSv/h to 10.48 ± 2.37 µSv/h, P = 0). As for [18F]NaF patients, the reduction was an average of 25.80 ± 10.03% (9.83 ± 2.01 µSv/h to 7.23 ± 1.49 µSv/h, P = 0). Conclusion: In addition to the physical decay of the radiotracers, utilizing the biological clearance properties have resulted in a significant decrease of the emitted radiation in this study. Implementing additional water consumption to facilitate voiding with 30 minutes of wait time before discharging certain [18F]FDG and [18F]NaF patients that need to be in close contact with others such as elderly, caregivers and inpatients, might facilitate lowering their emitted radiation by an average of 22-25% due to voiding, not counting in the physical decay which should add an additional 17% reduction.