title: Development of a simple method to evaluate medical staff radiation dose and its application to a software system supporting PET facility operation.
abstract: In recent years, positron-emitting labelled radiopharmaceuticals have come to be used in conjunction with positron emission tomography (PET) in various clinical diagnoses. Radiation exposure of the medical staff is a key issue in the design of PET facilities intended to handle large numbers of persons for PET diagnosis. As a first step, the radiation dose to individuals who received radiopharmaceuticals was calculated using a mathematical phantom model and the EGS4 electromagnetic cascade Monte Carlo code and MCNP Monte Carlo code. Dose rate behind a lead shield was also calculated for various lead thicknesses. The radiation dose distribution around a syringe containing a positron emitter was calculated. The calculated dose distributions were fitted to polynomial equations. These calculations were evaluated against measurements. The second step was to evaluate medical staff dose at a specified time by superimposing dose distribution from each person who received radioisotopes taking into account radioactive decay. In this way, we developed software to support PET facility operation, namely, planning, prediction, control of medical staff dose and facility operation. This system was also designed to schedule daily radiopharmaceuticals production and to manage radioactive wastes by taking decay time into account.
authors.affiliation: Hitachi Ltd, Saiwai-cho 3-1-1, Hitachi, Ibaraki 317-8511, Japan. katsumi-a_hayashi@pis.hitachi.co.jp
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tayama
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shibata
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Honda
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morimoto
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Izumida
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Horikawa
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kanaya
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kusakabe
mesh_terms: D001822:Body Burden; D003198:Computer Simulation; D007564:Japan; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital; D008954:Models, Biological; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D009683:Nuclear Medicine / Q000379:methods; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D011868:Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D012062:Relative Biological Effectiveness; D012984:Software; D012985:Software Design
chemical_list: D011868:Radioisotopes