Potential dose to nuclear medicine technologists from 99mTc-DTPA aerosol lung studies.
Air sampling performed during 190 Tc-labeled DTPA aerosol lung ventilation studies indicated that the maximum airborne concentration to which the nuclear medicine technologists might be exposed was 7.1 x 10(-1) Bq mL(-1) (1.9 x 10(-5) microCi mL(-1)). If a single technologist performed ALL the aerosol studies, at this maximum airborne concentration, based on the Annual Limit on Intake (ALI), the resulting dose equivalents could be either 1 mSv (100 mrem) to the lungs or 0.1 mSv (10 mrem) to the total body. However, the procedures are shared by the technical staff, the times of exposure are represented by only a fraction of the overall procedure time, and the average airborne concentrations were found to be more than an order of magnitude lower than the maximum. This resulted in a projected average annual dose equivalent of 7.0 x 10(-3) mSv (0.7 mrem) to the lungs or 7.0 x 10(-4) mSv (0.07 mrem) to the whole body from the performance of these procedures.
Achey
Bryan
B
Penn State Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA 17033, USA. bachey@psu.edu
Miller
Ken
K
Erdman
Mike
M
King
Steve
S
D000336:Aerosols / Q000032:analysis; D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008452:Maximum Allowable Concentration; D013677:Medical Laboratory Science; D009684:Nuclear Medicine Department, Hospital; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011835:Radiation Protection / Q000379:methods*; D011874:Radiometry / Q000379:methods*; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals / Q000032:analysis; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D016284:Technetium Tc 99m Pentetate / Q000032:analysis*
D000336:Aerosols; D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D016284:Technetium Tc 99m Pentetate