Measurements of occupational exposure for a technologist performing 18F FDG PET scans.
Radiation doses to one PET technologist performing 100 18F FDG (18F fluorodeoxyglucose) imaging procedures were measured in a clinical setting using two types of thermoluminescent dosimeter (TLD) badges, one finger-ring TLD and one electronic pocket dosimeter (EPD). 18F FDG was handled either with unshielded or with viewing window tungsten shielded syringes. The resulting doses using unshielded syringes were 13.8 +/- 0.8 microSv/370 MBq and 14.3 +/- 0.4 microSv/370 MBq, measured with TLD 100 and with TLD 700H/600H, respectively. For the same series of measurements, the doses obtained using shielded syringes were 10.7 +/- 0.4 microSv/370 MBq and 7.2 +/- 2.1 microSv/370 MBq with TLD700H/600H and with EPD, respectively. The dose to the right hand from shielded syringes was 69.3 +/- 5.5 microSv/370 MBq. All these values are within the ICRP recommended dose limits. Extrapolated to 725 examinations per year, the resulting effective dose measured with TLD would be 10 mSv with unshielded and 7.5 mSv with shielded syringes, respectively (25% dose reduction). The doses measured by TLD were consistently higher than those measured by EPD, suggesting that EPD measurements might underestimate occupational doses.
Biran
Talma
T
Radiation Safety Division, Soreq NRC, Yavne, Israel. talma@soreq.gov.il
Weininger
Jolie
J
Malchi
Shalom
S
Marciano
Rami
R
Chisin
Roland
R
D000328:Adult; D001822:Body Burden; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017056:Medical Laboratory Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009683:Nuclear Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011835:Radiation Protection / Q000379:methods*; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals / Q000032:analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013819:Thermoluminescent Dosimetry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18