Triggering radiation alarms after radioiodine treatment

Thallium-201 for Cardiac Stress Tests: Residual Radioactivity Worries Patients and Security

“…Without knowing these workers received radionuclides for medical procedures, their falsely high personal monitoring badge readings could be misinterpreted as excessive occupational radiation exposure. Previous case reports highlight nuclear medicine patients setting off radiation alarms while walking through close-quarter screening stations at airports or government facilities (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14). During the investigation of this case, the JAXPORT Risk and Safety Manager stated that a port worker had previously set off a radiation alarm while walking by detectors, due to implanted radioactive seeds (brachytherapy) for prostate cancer treatment.…”

False triggering of an ultraviolet flame detector after 99mTc-MDP injection

“…To date, only 14 cases of false triggering of radiation or flame security detectors after diagnostic [1,2,4,17] or [3,5,[8][9][10][11][12][13] radioisotope procedures have been reported (Table 2). We report the 15th case, which is the first case of 99m Tc-evoked incident and the second case of flame detector activation.…”

“…Most of these cases were activation of radiation detectors at airports or other facilities after receiving radioiodine ( 131 I) [8][9][10][11][12] or thallium ( 201 Tl) [4]. On the other hand, indoor smoking bans have led to an increase in detectors to deter smokers from smoking in restrooms.…”

The use of radioiodine in the management of benign thyroid disease

“…This is necessary for six months after treatment in the case of travel, during which time sufficient radioactivity may be retained by the patient to trigger security alarms at airports and other facilities. 6 Since hyperthyroidism and non-toxic goitre are such common conditions, all physicians are likely to come into contact with patients who need, or have had, radioactive iodine. On behalf of the Working Party, I hope that the revised guidelines will be of use to them as well as to endocrinologists and nuclear medicine specialists who are directly involved in the administration of radioactive iodine.…”