Assessment Of Extremity Occupational Exposure at a Nuclear Medicine Department

ABSTRACT :
Objective
There has been an increase in the use of radioactive materials in diagnostic imaging,
putting nuclear medicine personnel at increased medical risks. Worldwide, there is limited
data regarding extremity dose exposure with multiple studies showing wide dose variability.

Material and Methods

Therefore, in this study, extremity occupational doses for 9 nuclear medicine
personnel, consisting of nurses, technologists, and nuclear medicine physicians, at a large
hospital in Riyadh were monitored over a one-year period. Ring dosimeters and calibrated
ThermoLuminescent Dosimeters (TLDs), specifically, a lithium fluoride-based TLD-100,
were used to measure dose equivalent values. In mSv, the mean annual dose and range for
three groups for extremities’ dose exposure were as follows: group one (6.24 ± 4.28) (1.1–
11.7), group two (55.45 ± 7.85) (49.9–61) and group three (221.45 ± 18.03) (208.7–234.2)

Result
Within each of the three groups, the annual radiation dose was similar; however, there
was large intergroup variation as would be expected due to the different roles each personnel
has. However, in all cases, the extremity dose was less than the annual dose limit (500 mSv)
set.

Conclusion
Hence, this reveals a wide variation in dose among the personnel. This revealed a
wide variation in dose among the personnel, highlighting the need for careful assessment of
working conditions to ensure annual occupational exposures below the recommended limits.