[ RadSafe ] Re: travelling after nucmed procedures

[Mark Sonter]

Hi All,

Having had a heart stress test (once called 'thallium test', now 
generally Tc 99m sestamibi, or more recently, Tc99m technophosmin) a 
couple of years ago, let me recount my sense of thrill / amazement at 
the resolution of the images and the fan-bloody-tastic 'movie-loop' of 
my heart beating and the obvious brilliant diagnostic usefulness of the 
test.

I asked the nucmedtech how many mSv I had got from my two injections of 
1600 MBq of Tc99m : she didn't know, but the hospital RSO (who I knew) 
did, and informed me it was about 12 mSv, which turns out to be about 
the same as my career total as a uranium mining industry RSO and advisor 
(!!).

However, I am amazed and appalled from the earlier comments on this 
thread that many patients seem not to get briefed that they are to 
receive a radiopharmaceutical, nor that they will be detectably 
'radioactive' for up to a week.  What on earth is the matter with 
hospital authorities, and Nuc Med Physicians, that they are not properly 
briefing their patients????

Whatever happened to 'informed consent'????  Keeping patients in the 
dark is Highway Number One to Loss of  Trust....and anger at 
borders....and lawsuits whether deserved or not.  Some people should 
wake up quick.

Mark Sonter