Chromium-51 dosimetry of lymphocytes labeled incidentally during nuclear medicine procedures

Conventional dosimetry based on MIRD procedure fails to consider the localized energy deposition from the radionuclides decaying by the emission of Auger electrons. The cellular dosimetry of human peripheral blood lymphocytes labeled with 51 Cr, an Auger electron emitter, was calculated. Conventional dosimetric calculations reveal a dose of 0.024-0.17 rad/h/tube. In contrast the lymphocyte dose ranged from 0.053-0.339 rad/h with projected cumulative values of 51-324 rad for surviving lymphocytes.