Re: Release of I-131 Patients

[maay100@bgumail.bgu.ac.il (Quastel)]

        As a nuclear medicine physician at the Soroka Medical Center in
Beer Sheva, Israel, I can give you an idea what our doses of I-131 are.
Depending on the kind of thyroid pathology, I-131 treatment for
hyperthyroidism ranges from 148-925 MBq (4-25 mCi). Thyroid ablation doses
are of the order of 3700 MBq (100mCi). Treatment of thyroid metastases can
of course require higher doses than this. Patients who receive doses
greater than 1110 MBq (30 mCi) require isolation. Local regulations permit
the patient to be released to go home when the total body content of I-131
has fallen below 30 mCi, although there remain certain restrictions with
regard to public transportation and mixing with the public. The time of
hospital isolation for therapy or ablation doses usually involves 2-3
nights, but we have had patients who needed to be kept in isolation for
considerably longer times because of radioiodine retention.

        Michael Quastel

Standard disclaimers


>Hi everyone
>
>I'm a radiochemist at a nuclear power plant in South Africa, and am
>involved in our environmental monitoring programme.
>
>This topic of releasing I-131 patients interests me as last year on
>two occasions we detected significant levels of I-131 in the sludge
>from the sewage treatment plant a few kilometres away.  As it was
>very unlikely, for various reasons, to have originated from our
>nuclear plant, we investigated other potential sources of I-131.
>With the help of the government Dep. of Health, two patients were
>traced, who live in the nearby village, who had received I-131 about
>a week and a half before each of the incidents.  The levels in the
>sludge were about 1500 Bq/kg!  In both cases, the succeeding samples
>had reduced I-131 activity corresponding very well to I-131's
>half-life.
>
>As I am not a radiologist, I would like to know a bit more about what
>sort of doses patients typically receive, and how soon they are
>released from hospital.  (The information we have indicated that they
>received approximately 220MBq.)
>
>Regards
>
>Andrew Welsh
>Koeberg Nuclear Power Station
>Cape Town
>South Africa