title: A Mobile Alert System for Preparing the Delivery of Radiation Mitigators.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A mobile system allowing hospital medical personnel to prepare for the administration of radiation mitigators prior to receiving casualties is desirable.
  
  
  METHODS
  We evaluated a portable spectroscopic personal radiation detector for use as an ambulance-based unit for early detection and identification of gamma radiation. We tested the sensitivity, time-to-identification, and radionuclide identification accuracy rates, change in detector response to vehicle operation, interference from cardiac equipment, and internal versus external radiation source location.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We detected radiation sources in each of 119 trials using a humanoid phantom in a moving ambulance with a primary radionuclide identification accuracy of 96%. Typical identification time was around two minutes (149±95 s).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our observations suggest this mobile system is a potential pre-hospital arrival tool allowing for rapid preparation of radiation mitigators.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A.
authors.forename: Ryan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dickson
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A.
authors.forename: Jong Oh
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A.
authors.forename: Mohammed Saiful
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Huq
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A.
authors.forename: Greg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bednarz
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A.
authors.forename: Joe
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Suyama
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A.
authors.forename: Donald M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Yealy
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A. greenbergerjs@upmc.edu.
authors.forename: Joel S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Greenberger
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008952:Mobile Health Units; D011827:Radiation; D011868:Radioisotopes; D011874:Radiometry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D011868:Radioisotopes
keywords: Radiation detectors; ambulance; mobile alert system; radiation mitigation