RE: Contamination from I-131 in Perspiration

["Bass, Billy G." <bgb3@mhg.edu>]

Ben,  we see considerable contamination in the sweat of I-131 patients.  In 
fact, we give the patients scrubs to wear while they are in the hospital to 
prevent contamination of their own clothes.  I have counted as much as 
20,000 cpm in a 4 sq. cm wipe for a patient given over 150 mCi I-131.  I 
have also seen as little as 2000 cpm for the same wipe on a different 
patient.  I think it has to do with how much water is consumed post 
ingestion and how many trips to the bathroom.
We encourage lots of water for the first several hours.  One patient had 
over 2000 cpm from a wipe of her palm three days after ingestion of about 
150 mCi.  She probably had on the order of 10 mCi in her at the time.  It is 
a highly variable problem.  Recently, the NRC relaxed its patient release 
limits from 5 mr/hr at 1 meter to 7 mr/hr at one meter, so we are releasing 
patients earlier than before. In fact, one can now treat thyroid ca with 
I-131 on an outpatient basis.  (See NUREG-1492 for details).  I expect that 
a lot of patient clothes and personal belongings and bedding will be 
contaminated in the near future.  Fortunately,  I-131 decays relatively fast 
 (8 day half life) and the exposure to anyone from the contamination will be 
negible, even for high dose therapy.  If you would like more info contact me 
on my e-mail address and I'll be happy to discuss it with you.

Bill Bass, RSO
Washington Hospital Center
Washington, DC
BGB3@MHG.EDU
Telephone  (202) 877-8025
 ----------
From: radsafe%romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Contamination from I-131 in Perspiration
Date: Tuesday, August 05, 1997 9:42AM

Have you had any contamination problems due to perspiration from
individuals who have received therapeutic doses of I-131?

If so:

1) How did you deal with it?

2) Do you have any data on how much I-131 remained in the body when this
type of contamination was no longer a problem?

Thanks,

Ben Morgan
ben.morgan@cplc.com