Re: Deceased Patients Containing Radioactive Material

[Richard Smart <R.Smart@unsw.edu.au>]

At 04:25 PM 17.12.96 -0600, you wrote:
>To RADSAFE Medical HP types:
>
>I know this topic has been addressed before on RADSAFE (in March, 1996), but 
>I want to add a new twist.  The previous thread generally considered the 
>expiration of a patient that had a therapeutic administration of a 
>radiopharmaceutical.
>
>Here is my question:  Doesn't the same considerations apply to DIAGNOSTIC 
>administrations of various isotopes (e.g., Tc99m)?  When is the patient 
>"released"?  When is the radioactive material no longer "licensed material"? 
>


For comparison with the US regulations, the Australian Code of Practice for
the Safe Handling of Corpses Containing Radioactive Materials (1986)
specifically excludes diagnostic studies. Clause 2.5 states:

A patient who had received the very small amounts of radioactive materials
used for diagnostic or tracer tests presents no hazard to anyone called upon
to attend the corpse and is not considered further in this Code.

Regards

Richard Smart PhD
Department of Nuclear Medicine
St. George Hospital
Kogarah, NSW 2217
Australia
Tel:61 2 9350 3112
Fax:61 2 9350 3991
Email:R.Smart@unsw.edu.au