During a period of a little over ninety years, the use of radioactive materials has moved from the discovery of natural radioactivity by Becquerel to the use of highly sophisticated equipment for in-house production of biologically important molecules labeled with radionuclides, for the measurement of body functions. Radiation detectors have progressed from photographic plates and the gold leaf electroscope to the routine use of improved scintillation detectors for imaging the three-dimensional distribution of radioactive materials in the body as a function of space and time. It is expected that future improvements will be along the line of instruments with better spatial resolution, contrast, and sensitivity. Advances in hardware and software will be more than matched by developments in radiopharmaceuticals, including the use of monoclonal antibodies and receptor mapping agents which promise the exquisite specificity and sensitivity of radioimmunoassay procedures.
The effectiveness of three methods of assessing the patient body burden following 131I therapy was compared: (a) urine assay, (b) external exposure rate measurements, and (c) predictions based on a pretherapy diagnostic work-up. The urine assay method exhibited the greatest potential for error and personnel risk. The diagnostic work-up provided predictions of the body burden as a function of time, which may be applied to estimate the expected hospital stay. The direct external exposure rate survey showed the potential for being an accurate, reliable, and relatively safe method of monitoring the patient body burden.
A study was performed to determine the accuracy of 99Mo measurements using three commercial dose calibrators with their 99Mo assay shields. One 99Mo assay shield allowed excessive penetration by the lower energy 99mtc photons, resulting in the calibrator's falsely high interpretation of the activity of 99Mo present in the high-activity 99mTc eluates. All three calibrators performed adequately with a National Bureau of Standards 99Mo standard in equilibrum with 99mTc. By using low-activity aliquots of 99Mo and 99mTc, a low-level linearity test was performed. Two of the calibrators were found to have a threshold of approximately 10 microCi (370 kBq) for a nonzero 99Mo response, although one of these occasionally produced variable nonzero responses below its threshold. Only one of the calibrators was found to reflect accurately the activity of 99Mo present under all conditions tested.
Extrafocal radiation was investigated using four different rotating-anode radiographic units currently employed in a pediatric hospital. It was found to exhibit significant penetration, with an effective energy only slightly lower than that of the primary radiation. The percentage of extrafocal relative to focal radiation in pediatric procedures involving rare-earth screens ranged from 2 to 15%. The ratio of extrafocal to focal radiation tended to increase with increasing kVp, mA, and field size but was independent of focal spot size. Since extrafocal radiation may extend significantly outside of the primary collimated field, radiosensitive organs such as the gonads, thyroid, and eyes which are assumed to be shielded may actually receive as much as 25 mR per radiograph.
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