On the relationship between whole body, extremity and eye lens doses for medical staff in the preparation and application of radiopharmaceuticals in nuclear medicine

We performed individual dose measurements, in terms of Hp(10) for the whole body, Hp(0,07) for the extremities (hands) and Hp(3) for the eyes, for medical personnel (technical staff, nurses and medical doctors) in three nuclear medicine departments. One conventional diagnostic scintigraphy department, where Tc-99m, I-131 and Sm-153 were applied, and two PET-CT departments where F-18 was applied in preparation and application procedures, were studied. A novel eye lens dosemeter was used, designed to evaluate Hp(3) directly. From our measurements we obtained ratios of Hp(3)/Hp(10) ranging between 0.7 and 1.1 indicating that in nuclear medicine procedures eye lens doses could probably be estimated from Hp(10) values and that exceeding the present annual dose limit to eye lens (150 mSv) is very unlikely. The relationship between different individual doses can indicate the quality of radiation protection in a nuclear medicine department.