title: Historical Patterns in the Types of Procedures Performed and Radiation Safety Practices Used in Nuclear Medicine From 1945-2009.
abstract: The authors evaluated historical patterns in the types of procedures performed in diagnostic and therapeutic nuclear medicine and the associated radiation safety practices used from 1945-2009 in a sample of U.S. radiologic technologists. In 2013-2014, 4,406 participants from the U.S. Radiologic Technologists (USRT) Study who previously reported working with medical radionuclides completed a detailed survey inquiring about the performance of 23 diagnostic and therapeutic radionuclide procedures and the use of radiation safety practices when performing radionuclide procedure-related tasks during five time periods: 1945-1964, 1965-1979, 1980-1989, 1990-1999, and 2000-2009. An overall increase in the proportion of technologists who performed specific diagnostic or therapeutic procedures was observed across the five time periods. Between 1945-1964 and 2000-2009, the median frequency of diagnostic procedures performed substantially increased (from 5 wk to 30 wk), attributable mainly to an increasing frequency of cardiac and non-brain PET scans, while the median frequency of therapeutic procedures performed modestly decreased (from 4 mo to 3 mo). Also a notable increase was observed in the use of most radiation safety practices from 1945-1964 to 2000-2009 (e.g., use of lead-shielded vials during diagnostic radiopharmaceutical preparation increased from 56 to 96%), although lead apron use dramatically decreased (e.g., during diagnostic imaging procedures, from 81 to 7%). These data describe historical practices in nuclear medicine and can be used to support studies of health risks for nuclear medicine technologists.
authors.affiliation: *Radiation Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD; †Department of Clinical & Diagnostic Sciences, School of Health Professions, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL; ‡Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.
authors.forename: Miriam E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Van Dyke
authors.forename: Vladimir
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Drozdovitch
authors.forename: Michele M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Doody
authors.forename: Hyeyeun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Norman E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Bolus
authors.forename: Steven L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Simon
authors.forename: Bruce H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Alexander
authors.forename: Cari M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Kitahara
mesh_terms: D006283:Health Physics / Q000266:history*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D011835:Radiation Protection / Q000266:history*; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging / Q000266:history*; D011878:Radiotherapy / Q000266:history*; D014481:United States