Occupational Exposure in the Working Process of Radiological Nursing in Nuclear Medicine

Portela, Tayana; Camozzato, Tatiane Sabriela Cagol; Flôr, Rita de Cássia; Ribeiro, Gerusa; Melo, Juliana Almeida Coelho de

doi:10.1016/j.jradnu.2021.02.005

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…The use of gallium-68 ( 68 Ga) has increased over the last few years [ 9 ], especially for the diagnosis of prostate cancer (PCa) with [ 68 Ga]Ga-PSMA [ 10 ], and neuroendocrine tumours (NET) with [ 68 Ga]Ga-DOTA-TOC [ 11 , 12 ]. However, these are still novel radiopharmaceuticals, so there is a paucity of studies addressing occupational dosimetry from exposure to 68 Ga-based peptides [ 13 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to a literature review performed by Kollaard et al [ 13 ], at the time there was only one publication reporting on extremity doses for 68 Ga [ 16 ], but presented a practice without source shielding, which was not representative of ongoing practices, and was focused on another peptide, [ 68 Ga]Ga-DOTA-NOC. To the best of our knowledge, few more studies have been published since then [ 11 , 17 ] but no specific extremity, eye lens dosimetry nor real-time monitoring was performed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Occupational radiation exposure assessment during the management of [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-TOC

et al. 2022

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Background Since it was first approved in Europe in 2016, the gallium-68 (68Ga) radiopharmaceutical [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-TOC has been widely used for imaging of somatostatin receptor (SSTR) positive tumours using positron emission tomography–computed tomography (PET/CT). Significant patient benefits have been reported, so its use is rapidly increasing. However, few studies have been published regarding occupational doses to nuclear medicine personnel handling this radiopharmaceutical, despite its manual usage at low distances from the skin and the beta-emission decay scheme, which may result in an increased absorbed dose to their hands. In this context, this study aims to analyse the occupational exposure during the administration of [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-TOC for PET/CT imaging. For this purpose, extremity, eye lens and whole-body dosimetry in terms of Hp(0.07), Hp(3) and Hp(10), respectively, was conducted on six workers with both thermoluminescent dosimeters, and personal electronic dosimeters. Results The non-dominant hand is more exposed to radiation than the dominant hand, with the thumb and the index fingertip being the most exposed sites on this hand. Qualitative analysis showed that when no shielding is used during injection, doses increase significantly more in the dominant than in the non-dominant hand, so the use of shielding is strongly recommended. While wrist dosimeters may significantly underestimate doses to the hands, placing a ring dosimeter at the base of the ring or middle finger of the non-dominant hand may give a valuable estimation of maximum doses to the hands if at least a correction factor of 5 is applied. Personal equivalent doses for the eyes did not result in measurable values (i.e., above the lowest detection limit) for almost all workers. The extrapolated annual dose estimations showed that there is compliance with the annual dose limits during management of [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-TOC for diagnostics with PET in the hospital included in this study. Conclusions Imaging with [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-TOC is a safe process for the workers performing the administration of the radiopharmaceutical, including intravenous injection to the patient and the pre- and post-activity control, as it is highly unlikely that annual dose limits will be exceeded if good working practices and shielding are used.

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