21B. Radiation dose to patients from diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals

Abstract

This work aims to complete the dosimetric information available in the report No. 19-2001 of the French Society of Medical Physics (FSMP). This work is designed to help nuclear medicine professionals in the assessment of patient dose during diagnostic examinations in nuclear medicine. It takes into account a number of recent developments in France, such as the emergence of PET scanners and hybrid SPECT/CT cameras in nuclear medicine departments. In order to remain consistent with the FSMP report No. 19-2001, the effective dose was calculated according to the methodology applied in ICRP publication 60 (1991). A new reference system for performing dosimetric calculations has been introduced in ICRP publication 103 (2007) but the data necessary for nuclear medicine applications are not yet validated on a large scale. Therefore, this work focused on updating dosimetric data from the latest ICRP publications (106, 128) or from the literature, especially in the case of PET tracers. The radiation dose assessments for the neonate and fetus were updated for fluorine-18. Breastfeeding recommendations were revised: the working group adopted a new method to estimate the exposure of newborn by internal contamination in breast milk and by external radiation during periods of contact. The working group also collected the administered doses in common nuclear medicine examinations from guidelines of several learned societies (SFMN, EANM) and from French regulations (diagnostic reference levels, marketing authorization). Through this document, the working group wished to encourage nuclear medicine professionals to follow existing recommendations on administered doses, especially in pediatric and PET examinations. Finally, CT radiation dose from hybrid imaging systems was addressed by giving some examples of dose assessment in the limited context of anatomical localization and attenuation correction.