TLD occupational dose distribution study in nuclear medicine

• The highest doses in nuclear medicine procedures occur at the fingertips.
• Dosimetric bracelet may underestimate the dose at the hands by up to a factor of 25.
• Eye lens dose equivalent dose can be twice the Hp(10) value measured on the thorax.
• Adequate shielding, tools and training are important parameters for dose reduction.

The large and growing number of patients undergoing nuclear medicine procedures and workers involved in this practice requires continued efforts to improve the quality of diagnosis and to reduce the radiological risk associated. In Brazil, external individual monitoring with a dosemeter located on the thorax is compulsory for all workers in controlled areas. Extremity dosemeters are recommended in activities where hand dose can be much higher than on the thorax. This is typically the case for nuclear medicine procedures, but extremity dosemeters are not regularly used in Brazil. With the aim to study the occupational dose distribution in the nuclear medicine staff during their tasks of preparation and injection of radionuclides, Harshaw TLD chips of LiF:Mg,Cu,P (TLD-100H) were used for individual monitoring on different parts of the worker body. As expected, all doses measured on the thorax were much lower than on the hands. For both Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET), the dose to the fingers during preparation is about two orders of magnitude higher than in the thorax, and in the injection procedure, one order higher. The doses received by the workers' fingers varied widely depending on how they hold the syringe, but fingertips always received higher doses. The dose values measured in the eye lens were 200% higher than the one measured on the thorax.