| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1881526 | Radiation Measurements | 2011 | 4 Pages |
During nuclear medicine procedures technologists are exposed to relatively high extremity doses as a result of manipulation of syringes and vials. These manipulations also involve a risk on contamination with liquids that have a relatively high specific activity. Despite the fact that contaminations should be avoided by hygienic measures, they can occur by accidental spills or as a result of cross-contamination. It should be stated that even minor contaminations can lead to major extremity doses especially in the case of beta-emitters. This means that contamination survey followed by decontamination, where appropriate, is needed in routine practise. Regular survey by workers asks for self-discipline, is time-consuming and consequently often neglected. Moreover, the use of common contamination monitors does not reveal reliable quantitative data that can be used in calculation of cumulated doses. In this study contaminations were monitored during a long-term survey with a protocol based on fast identification, localisation and quantification. During the first 5 months of the survey 300 inspections were carried out among 10 technologists. Contamination was found in 28 (9%) cases (23 99mTc-labelled radiopharmaceuticals, 5 18FDG). All detected contaminations were highly localised with values ranging from 185Bq to 440 kBq. The skin dose rates were calculated using different reference data and methods. The follow-up of individual contaminations resulted in the calculation of effective half-lives that are strongly radiopharmaceutical related. The use of these effective half-lives, the estimated exposure time and the reference data for dose rates resulted in a wide range of cumulated skin doses ranging from 8 μSv to 33 mSv. The first results of this survey indicate that extremity doses resulting from contaminations can have a large contribution to the total extremity dose of nuclear medicine technologists.
► A skin contamination survey was organised among nuclear medicine staff. ► The protocol was based on fast detection, localisation and accurate quantification. ► The first results show an incidence of 28 cases out of 300 inspections. ► Skin contamination doses up to 33 mSv were measured during the survey. ► A decrease of positive cases could be observed during the survey period.
