Evaluation of the annual occupational effective doses in a SPECT/CT department

Aamry A 1 , Sulieman A 2 , Tamam N 3 , Abuhadi NH 4 , Johary Y 5 , Aamri H 6 Show all authors , Mattar E 7 , Salah H 8 , Osman H 9 , Khandaker MU 10 , Bradley D 11

Affiliations 

  • 1 Nuclear Medicine Department, King Saud Medical City (KSMC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: [email protected]
  • 2 Department of Radiology and Medical Imaging, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Alkharj, Saudi Arabia
  • 3 Department of Physics, College of Science, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, P.O Box 84428, Riyadh, 11671, Saudi Arabia
  • 4 Diagnostic Radiographic Technology Department, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Jazan University, Jazan, Saudi Arabia
  • 5 Medical Physics Department, Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia
  • 6 Medical Physics Department, King Saud University Medical City (KSUMC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
  • 7 Department of Radiological Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, PO Box 10219, Riyadh, 11433, Saudi Arabia
  • 8 INAYA Medical Collage, Nuclear Medicine Department, Riyadh, 13541, Saudi Arabia
  • 9 Radiological Sciences Department, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Taif University, Saudi Arabia
  • 10 Centre for Applied Physics and Radiation Technologies, School of Engineering and Technology, Sunway University, 47500, Bandar Sunway, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 11 Centre for Applied Physics and Radiation Technologies, School of Engineering and Technology, Sunway University, 47500, Bandar Sunway, Selangor, Malaysia; Centre for Nuclear and Radiation Physics, Department of Physics, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7XH, UK
Appl Radiat Isot, 2022 Mar;181:110097.
PMID: 35063867 DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2022.110097

Abstract

Staff occupational radiation exposure is limited to 20 mSv annually to preclude tissue reaction and lower risk of cancer effect. Staff occupational exposure arises during the preparation, injection, and scanning of the patients. Recent studies reported that nuclear medicine personnel might exceed the annual dose limit in high workload and poor radiation protection circumstances. Therefore, an accurate estimation of the annual dose limit is recommended. The goal of this research is to calculate the cumulative external effective dose (mSv) per year for nuclear medicine physicians, technologists, and nurses at SPECT/CT department. A total of 15 staff worked in the nuclear medicine department at King Saud Medical City (KSMC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia were evaluated for the last six years. 99mTc is used more frequently for most of the patients. The procedures include renal, cardiac scintigraphy procedures. Staff dose was quantified using calibrated thermoluminecnt dosimeters (TLD-100) with an automatic TLD reader (Harshaw 6600). Exposure to ionizing radiation was evaluated in terms of deep doses (Hp(10) were evaluated. The overall average and standard deviation of the external doses for nuclear medicine physicians, technologists' and nurses were 1.8 ± 0.7, 1.9 ± 0.6, 2.0 ± 0.9, 2.2 ± 0.8, 6.0 ± 2.8, and 3.6 ± 1.3 for the years 2015,2016,2017,2018,2019, and 2020, respectively. Technologists and nurses received higher doses of compared to the nuclear medicine physicians. Technologists and nurses involved in radionuclide preparation, patients' injection, and image acquisition. Staff annual exposure is below the annual dose limits; however, this external dose is considered high compared to the current workload.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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