Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 12, 2025
09:49
A Whole Body Dosimetry Protocol for Peptide-Receptor Radionuclide Therapy PRRT: 2D Planar Image and Hybrid 2D+3D SPECT/CT Image Methods
Published on: April 24, 2020
10.0K
Dose Estimation for Extravasation of 177Lu, 99mTc, and 18F
Innocent Y Tsorxe, Robert B Hayes1
1North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695.
Health Physics
|January 31, 2023
Summary
Radiopharmaceutical extravasation can lead to high local radiation doses, exceeding safety limits. This study quantifies these doses, emphasizing the need for radiation safety programs to address such events.
Area of Science:
- Nuclear Medicine
- Medical Physics
- Radiation Oncology
Background:
- Radiopharmaceutical extravasation, where injected radioactivity leaks into soft tissue, poses a risk of significant local radiation dose.
- Understanding these doses is crucial for clinical radiation protection and patient safety in nuclear medicine procedures.
Purpose of the Study:
- To estimate and assess the absorbed radiation dose to localized soft tissue from hypothetical radiopharmaceutical extravasation scenarios.
- To determine if extravasation doses could exceed the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's reporting limit (0.5 Sv) or levels causing tissue damage (1.0 Sv).
Main Methods:
- Utilized the GATE Monte Carlo simulation software to model self-dose to spherical tissue volumes.
- Simulated various common radiopharmaceutical isotopes (177Lu, 99mTc, 18F) with realistic radioactivity levels, volumes, and effective half-lives.
- Calculated absorbed doses for different extravasation scenarios based on established nuclear medicine practices.
Main Results:
- Calculated absorbed doses ranged from 5.5 to 23.5 Gy for 177Lu, 0.9 to 12.4 Gy for 99mTc, and 1.5 to 16.2 Gy for 18F.
- These calculated doses frequently surpassed the 0.5 Sv medical event reporting threshold and the 1.0 Sv level associated with deterministic effects.
Conclusions:
- Radiopharmaceutical extravasations can deliver substantial tissue radiation doses, potentially exceeding established safety and clinical damage thresholds.
- Effective radiation safety programs must incorporate robust protocols for identifying, mitigating, documenting, and performing dosimetry for significant extravasation events.
