EVALUATION OF THE RELEASE CRITERIA FROM HOSPITAL OF THYROID CARCINOMA PATIENT TREATED WITH 131I

Patients treated with high doses of ¹³¹I for thyroid cancer are generally hospitalised under isolation conditions for up to several days after treatment. The external dose rates from 192 randomised samples of thyroid carcinoma patients were measured at 1 m after 48 h of radioiodine dose administration. The results showed that 12 % of released patients had an external dose rate of >30 µSv h^-1 (the release criterion set by the national regulations) whereas 42 % of them had an external dose rates between 11 and 20 µSv h^-1 Ninety-two per cent of the patients were released after 48 h. The patient socio-economical conditions were taken into consideration to investigate unnecessary public exposure; only 36 % of the patients had one adult person living with them and 48 % of patients had no children. In addition, 68 % of patients declared that they use the public transport after discharge from hospital. The applied release criteria was successfully respected with a compliance ratio of 90 %, and it was adequate to maintain a suitable level of public radiation protection.