Abstract
Objective: In this study, we aimed to make a computer program that calculates approximate radiation dose received by embryo/fetus in nuclear medicine applications. Material and Methods: Radiation dose values per MBq-1 received by embryo/fetus in nuclear medicine applications were gathered from literature for various stages of pregnancy. These values were embedded in the computer code, which was written in Fortran 90 program language. Results: The computer program called nmfdose covers almost all radiopharmaceuticals used in nuclear medicine applications. Approximate radiation dose received by embryo/fetus can be calculated easily at a few steps using this computer program. Conclusion: Although there are some constraints on using the program for some special cases, nmfdose is useful and it provides practical solution for calculation of approximate dose to embryo/fetus in nuclear medicine applications.Conflict of interest:None declared.
Highlights
Many women are exposed to ionizing radiation each year during their pregnancy for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes
User can calculate approximate embryo or fetus doses at four steps using nmfdose program. Because it is distributed in zip format, firstly the user should extract nmfdose program to any directory
Radioiodine (I-131) is another frequently used radionuclide for diagnostic purposes and for treating patients with hyperthyroidism and well differentiated thyroid cancer. This radionuclide is not allowed to be used for pregnant patients for treatment purposes, there might be some cases that physician and patient do not know about the pregnancy even after a pregnancy test
Summary
Many women are exposed to ionizing radiation each year during their pregnancy for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. During pregnancy it is strongly recommended to avoid diagnostic or therapeutic nuclear medicine procedures, in cases of clinical necessity or when the physician does not know about the pregnancy, patients may undergo certain nuclear medicine procedures For these procedures, the absorbed dose to embryo/fetus depends upon deposit of radiopharmaceuticals in the maternal tissues, placental transfer of radiopharmaceuticals, retention and distribution of radiopharmaceuticals, the physical half-life, type of decay products and photon irradiation from radionuclides in the maternal tissues and placenta [2,3]. There is a computer program available, called nmdoses [14] which calculates radiation dose to organs and gonads for some commonly used diagnostic and therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals in nuclear medicine. It does not include fetus dose calculation for nuclear medicine applications. The aim of this study is to make a computer program which calculates approximate embryo/fetus radiation dose at a few steps
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