title: Calibration of surface contamination monitors for the detection of iodine incorporation in the thyroid gland.
abstract: In Switzerland, individuals exposed to the risk of activity intake are required to perform regular monitoring. Monitoring consists in a screening measurement and is meant to be performed using commonly available laboratory instruments. More particularly, iodine intake is measured using a surface contamination monitor. The goal of the present paper is to report the calibration method developed for thyroid screening instruments. It consists of measuring the instrument response to a known activity located in the thyroid gland of a standard neck phantom. One issue of this procedure remains that the iodine radioisotopes have a short half-life. Therefore, the adequacy and limitations to simulate the short-lived radionuclides with so-called mock radionuclides of longer half-life were also evaluated. In light of the results, it has been decided to use only the appropriate iodine sources to perform the calibration.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Radiation Physics, Lausanne, Switzerland. claude.bailat@chuv.ch
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bailat
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Buchillier
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Baechler
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bochud
mesh_terms: D002138:Calibration; D004866:Equipment Contamination; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D015233:Models, Statistical; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000517:prevention & control*; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D020959:Polyethylene / Q000737:chemistry; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D011835:Radiation Protection / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012974:Sodium Iodide / Q000737:chemistry; D013557:Switzerland; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000528:radiation effects
chemical_list: D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes; D020959:Polyethylene; D012974:Sodium Iodide