RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 An Unusual Cause of γ-Camera Contamination
JF Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
JO J. Nucl. Med. Technol.
FD Society of Nuclear Medicine
SP 381
OP 383
DO 10.2967/jnmt.122.264172
VO 50
IS 4
A1 David L. Francia
A1 Kathy P. Willowson
A1 Dale L. Bailey
YR 2022
UL http://tech.snmjournals.org/content/50/4/381.abstract
AB This report is of an unusual case of radioactive contamination of a γ-camera after scanning 2 individuals who had been treated 3 d beforehand with ablative doses of 131I for thyroid cancer. A combination of observed half-life and pulse-height spectroscopy was used to identify the contaminant. The source of the contamination was eventually found to be a single human hair, presumably contaminated when the individual was sucking her hair while waiting for the scan to start. This case demonstrates that hair can be contaminated by saliva and potentially other bodily fluids in the postablation setting and that using physical measurements, in this case the observed half-life and pulse-height spectroscopy, can be useful in identifying the radioactive contaminant.