[The treatment of thyroid diseases using 131I in a special ward with a liquid waste storage plant]

This paper deals with the calculation of doses for organs of special interest under 131I treatment of thyroid diseases. Also the effective dose equivalent to the body of the patient, exclusive of the thyroid, is given. The ratio between the exposure by self-irradiation and the exposure from another patient in 2 m distance both having undergone 131I treatment with 50% uptake, is about 1000:1. Therefore positioning of a lead shield between two such patients in the same room is, from the point of view of radiation protection, unnecessary. A complete mathematical description of iodine distribution in a nuclear medicine ward and its liquid waste storage plant is given. The use in the authors' own department of these equations is demonstrated. Computer programs for additional calculations are available.