[ RadSafe ] I-131 Pt and concerns

[Carol Marcus]

<www.doseinfo-radar.com/ExposureCalculator.html>

Tell your friend to tell his friend that if her doctor won't give her 
written instructions, as required by the CFR, she should get another doctor.

Carol S. Marcus, Ph.D., M.D.
Prof. of Radiation Oncology and of Radiological Sciences
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

On 1/4/2012 10:32 AM, Rees, Brian G wrote:
> I have a friend, who has a friend that will soon be undergoing I-131 therapy for a metastasized thyroid Ca.  The Pt is a new mother, and went to the www to read about I-131, radiation, etc., and is now convinced she needs to throw away her used clothing, sleep in a different part of the house (the basement), and not have any contact with her baby for a month (among other things)... hopefully she isn't buying over-priced vitamins... but anyway...
>
> I did go through the archives, but haven't found any what I would consider to be good, authoritative and informative sources of information regarding post-therapy care and precautions, but don't have time to go through all the archives either (!).  Recommendations?
>
> I don't know how much activity they are planning to administer (assuming 100-200 mCi or so), or other details (she's a friend of a friend...), but one thing she is particularly concerned about is holding her baby at some point in an infant carrier (the kind that holds the baby against the chest).  Other than making all kinds of assumptions myself, is there an accessible program that I could use to calculate exposures for after a week, 2 weeks, etc., to help inform the mother of what doses would be, rather than having her full of fear?
>
> Yes, I know it's to help the mother, and that an infant thyroid is vulnerable, and that her MD should be making recommendations, and that I'm not an MD, etc., but I sure hate to see a distorted view taken of the potential risks from this procedure.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Brian Rees, NRRPT, CHP
>
>
>
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