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Theme: Nuclear Medicine			Currently nan/5 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 Rating: nan/5 (0 votes cast)

Assessment of compliance to radiation safety instructions by caregivers of non-cancerous thyroid patients treated with I-131 therapy

Authors:

Ali Abdulhasan Kadhim
Peyman Sheikhzadeh

Institutions:

Tehran University of Medical Sciences

Background

In radioiodine therapy, the safety of caregivers is necessary to ensure that patients get adequate support. Thus, it is important that caregivers be well-informed about adequate radiation safety instructions (RSI) to ensure that their radiation doses received from patients are not above the recommended limits. This study aimed to assess the level of compliance to RSI by caregivers taking care of non-cancerous thyroid patients treated with I-131.

Summary of Work

Thirty caregivers (>18 years) of 30 patients receiving radioiodine therapy for non-cancerous thyroid diseases were given specific RSI. Afterwards, each caregiver was provided with a thermoluminescence dosimeter (TLD) badge. They were asked to wear the badges for 21 days when taking care of the patients. At the end of this period, the radiation dose received by each caregiver was measured from the TLD and compared with the recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). Furthermore, the effects of patients’ administered activities and caregivers’ educational level, on the effective doses received by the caregivers were assessed.

Take-home Messages

Our results would comfort caregivers as their safety is not compromised as long as they abide by RSI.

References

International Commission On Radiological Protection, Recommendations of the ICRP, Publication 103, Elsevier, Oxford (2008).

Summary of Results

The treatment doses administered ranged between 8-30 mCi. The effective doses received by the caregivers after 21 days were between 0.01-0.58 mSv. Comparison of these results with ICRP recommendations showed that caregivers’ effective doses were well under the safety limit of 5 mSv as recommended by ICRP. Furthermore, there were no significant effects of patients’ administered activities (p = 0.80) and caregivers’ educational level (p = 0.575) on caregivers’ effective doses.

Conclusion

The radiation doses to caregivers was well within the limits of ICRP, thereby indicating good compliance by the caregivers to RSI. Thus, our results further emphasize the importance of adherence to RSI.

Acknowledgement

We are grateful to the Nuclear Medicine Department of Imam Khomeini Hospital, Tehran, Iran for their support.