[ RadSafe ] Re: travelling after nucmed procedures

[Carol Marcus]

Dear Mark and Radsafers:

Be careful how you use the term "Nuclear Medicine Physicians".  There are 
board certified nuclear medicine physicians, and then there are physicians 
with really questionable minimum training who buy a license from the state 
radiation authorities or the NRC (diagnostic radiologists, cardiologists, 
endocrinologists) and practice all or part of nuclear medicine.  The techs 
tend to run things in these practices, and they haven't the time or 
knowledge to really discuss this issue intelligently with patients.  The 
problem is not really with the board certified nuclear medicine physicians 
in nuclear medicine departments, but with the others who practice this 
specialty.  Please address your anger primarily to NRC---it's their fault 
this has happened.  The other person to fault is Mike Leavitt, Secretary of 
Health and Human Services.  HIPAA is his abortion, and it is causing huge 
problems, in addition to this homeland security issue.  He is responsible 
for this---make him fix it.

Ciao, Carol

Carol S. Marcus, Ph.D., M.D.
csmarcus at ucla.edu

At 08:30 PM 7/23/2005, Mark Sonter wrote:
>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
>
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