[ RadSafe ] Nuc Med pt x-contamination of other people

[radbloom at comcast.net]

Brian, 

  

Early on in my career, I surveyed and decontaminated I-131 patients' rooms.  After one visit of bagging contaminated bedsheets and tissues (littered around the room for some reason - maybe the patient had a cold), cleaning toilets, sinks and floors, I found that my shoe cover had failed and my boot was contaminated.  A couple years later, I shared a construction work trailer with a man who had undergone a Tl-201 stress test.  It was a good opportunity to show folks that radiation is all around us and easily moved.  The toilet, the wall behind it and the floor and the sink were all contaminated.  Cleaning between visitors resulted in no contamination found on other surveyed personnel, but I feel certain that if we hadn't cleaned, we would have seen some (low level, probably no more than 100,000 dpm and typically less than 10,000 dpm ) contamination of folks' shoes, clothes and body parts.  Sweat, nasal mucous, saliva, tears, blood, urine, and feces are all known vectors for contamination spread from in vivo medical radionuclide use. 

  

Cindy 

  

----- Original Message -----




From: "Brian G Rees" < brees @ lanl .gov> 
To: "The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List" < radsafe @health.phys. iit . edu > 
Sent: Friday, December 2, 2011 9:59:37 AM 
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Nuc Med pt x-contamination of other people 

Sandy, 

I'm aware of Pt.s contaminating their environs, but am looking for instances of other people becoming contaminated as a result.  As an example I was told of a person whose shoe was contaminated, it was traced back to a urine drop/splatter at a urinal. 

Thanks, 
Brian 

-----Original Message----- 
From: radsafe -bounces at health.phys. iit . edu [ mailto : radsafe -bounces at health.phys. iit . edu ] On Behalf Of Perle, Sandy 
Sent: Friday, December 02, 2011 9:47 AM 
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List 
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Nuc Med pt x-contamination of other people 

Brian, certainly. For example, I had a radioiodine thyroid ablation procedure end of August. One of the release of the I-131 is through perspiration as well as other body eliminations. Simply touching an item (furniture, computer keyboard or person) will cause contamination on the item or person. In my case, no matter what you do to minimize contamination, it can't be totally eliminated. My keyboard was contaminated (not significantly) but someone just touching the keyboard does and did transfer some of the contamination. Again, not significant, but it does and can occur. 

Hope this answers your question. 

Best regards, 

Sandy 

----------------------------------- 
Sander C. Perle  
President 
Mirion Technologies 
Dosimetry Services Division  
2652 McGaw Avenue 
Irvine, CA 92614 
  
+1 (949) 296-2306 (Office) 
+1 (949) 296-1130 (Fax) 
  
Mirion Technologies:  http :// www . mirion .com/ 
"Protecting people, property and the environment" 

-----Original Message----- 
From: radsafe -bounces at health.phys. iit . edu [ mailto : radsafe -bounces at health.phys. iit . edu ] On Behalf Of Rees, Brian G 
Sent: Friday, December 02, 2011 5:55 AM 
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List 
Subject: [ RadSafe ] Nuc Med pt x-contamination of other people 

Is there any documented instances of a nuclear medicine patient cross-contaminating another person?  I'm even interested in anecdotal cases! 

I promise I won't try to promote and market pills to protect anyone from such events! 

Thanks, 
Brian Rees 
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