Radiation Protection Dosimetry Advance Access originally published online on July 6, 2006
Radiation Protection Dosimetry 2007 123(1):62-67; doi:10.1093/rpd/ncl084
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Radiation exposure for caregivers during high-dose outpatient radioiodine therapy
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Hamilton Health Sciences, 1200 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8N 3Z5
* Corresponding author: webber{at}hhsc.ca
Received January 31, 2006, amended May 23, 2006, accepted May 29, 2006
| Abstract |
|---|
On 27 occasions, radiation doses were measured for a family member designated as the caregiver for a patient receiving high-dose radioiodine outpatient therapy for differentiated thyroid carcinoma. For 25 of the administrations, patients received 3.7 GBq of 131I. Radiation doses for the designated caregivers were monitored on an hourly basis for 1 week using electronic personal dosemeters. The average penetrating dose was 98 ± 64 µSv. The maximum penetrating dose was 283 µSv. Measured dose rate profiles showed that, on average, one-third of the caregiver dose was received during the journey home from hospital. The mean dose rate profile showed rapid clearance of 131I with three distinct phases. The corresponding clearance half-times were <1 h, 21 h and
8 d. These components were associated, respectively, with the drive home, the clearance of radioiodine from an athyreotic patient and small quantities of 131I contaminating the home.