Population exposure from nuclear medicine procedures: measurement data

In order to estimate the public radiation burden from nuclear medicine studies, a TLD chip in a sealed plastic bag was taped on the abdomen of patients who received 111In as chloride or oxine, 201T1 chloride, or one of four common 99mTc agents. The TLD chip was removed after 24 h. Additionally, abdominal skin surface exposure rate measurements were performed with an ionization chamber survey meter at various times (0 to about 60 h). There was superb correlation between TLD and integrated exposure rate measurements and between TLD and ionization chamber measurements and MIRD calculated doses. Scenarios postulated for exposure of co-workers and family members yielded doses between 7 muSv (0.7 mrem) and 20 muSv (2 mrem) for the selected radiopharmaceuticals. Calculations of the total population exposure from nuclear medicine procedures indicate the per capita dose (amortized over the entire population) is approximately 0.4 muSv (0.04 mrem), a negligible dose compared to natural background and total medical irradiation.