Radiation exposure to patient

Suzuki S, Furui S, Kohtake H, et al. Radiation exposure to patient s skin during percutaneous coronary intervention for various lesions including chronic total occlusion. Circulation 2006 70 44-48. 

Kuon E, Empen K, Rohde D, Dahm JB. Radiation exposure to patients undergoing percutaneous coronary... 

Nickoloff EL, Alderson PO (2001) Radiation exposures to patients from CT reahty, public perception, and pohcy. Am J Roentgenol 177 285-287. 

How to Quantify Radiation Exposure to Patients Related to CT Examinations 55 Fundamental Dose Quantities 55 Determination of Organ and Tissue Doses 55 Measurable Dose Quantities in CT 56 Determination of the Effective Dose from Device and Scan Parameters 57 Special Aspects of MSCT 5 Conclusions 61... 

How to Quantify Radiation Exposure to Patients Reiated to CT Examinations... 

The only radionuclidic impurity detected in the 1-122 is less than 0.1% radioxenons and other radioiodines, which neither interfere with scintigraphic imaging nor result in a high radiation exposure to the patient. Further improvement of the radioiodine contamination could be attained with an iodine trap between the storage reservoir and the growth chamber. The milking efficiency is about 40%. We consider this generator assembly to be a preliminary version that can be refined considerably. Further details may be obtained from Richards and Ku (8). 

Some skin damage frequently accompanies ARS. However, the cutaneous syndrome can also result from localized acute radiation exposure to the skin, usually from direct handling of radioactive sources or from contamination of the skin or clothes (2,8) (see Figs. 4.1 and 4.2) With localized exposure, even with high doses, the victim frequently survives, because the whole body usually does not receive the localized dose. However, if a patient with localized radiation induced cutaneous injury has also received whole body irradiation from an external source, the cutaneous damage increases the risk for death from the whole body exposure (2). Patients with the hematopoietic syndrome due to whole body irradiation will recover more slowly, if at all, from cutaneous injury due to bleeding, infection and poor wound healing (2). 

Radiopharmaceutical, to be prepared and administered only by personnel trained in radiopharmaceuticals premedicate with acetaminophen and antihistamines slow infusion rate or interrupt infusion for infusion reactions medications for treatment of hypersensitivity reactions should be available for immediate use avoid in pregnant females may cause hypothyroidism in fetus two-step administration MoAB and low radioisotope dose is followed after 1-2 weeks by MoAB and therapeutic radioisotope dose renally excreted impaired renal function may increase exposure to radioactive components patients must be trained in precautions to decrease radiation exposure to family, friends, and general public... 

Patients injected with 18F-FDG are required to wait for 45-60 min before PET scanning and need to stay in a separate uptake room not to cause radiation exposure to the worker or the public. The PET room, the preparation room (if it is used as an injection room), and the uptake room should be well-shielded to comply with the limits on radiation exposure to workers and the public. This will be discussed later in the chapter. 

Patients should fast overnight or have only a light breakfast prior to the study. Patients should drink sufficient water, and frequent bladder emptying should be encouraged in order to reduce the radiation exposure to the bladder wall. 

There are three basic principles to avoid unnecessary radiation exposure to others. Since the patient is a source of radiation to others keep distance, limit the time spent close to the patient and avoid contamination, i.e., apply meticulous hygiene to reduce the possibility of contamination. 

Risks Associated with Non-Intended Radiation Exposure to the Patient... 

After withdrawal of the angiography catheter an additional lead cover (1-mm-thick Pb) is put on the patient s abdomen to reduce radiation exposure originating from the patient during femoral artery compression. When the bleeding stops and the compression bandage is applied, the patient is transferred to the isolation ward of the nuclear medicine department until radiation exposure to the environment becomes low enough for the patient to be discharged. 

A patient may be given radioactive tracers such as technetium-99m, iodine-131, gallium-67, and thallium-201 that emit gamma radiation, which is detected and used to develop an image of the kidneys or thyroid or to follow the blood flow in the heart muscle. Radiologists must be knowledgeable about radiation exposure to limit the amount of radiation to which patients are exposed. 

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