Patient Protection Guidelines in Nuclear Medicine

Nuclear Medicine Safety Protocols

Fundamental Principles

While "nuclear" often evokes associations with weapons or energy production, modern medicine utilizes micro-dose nuclear technology for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Key considerations:

• Radiation exposure in medical applications is orders of magnitude lower than environmental hazards
• Dose-response relationship followsALARAprinciple
• Typical effective dose for Tc-99m procedures: 2-5 mSv (equivalent to 8-20 months natural background radiation)

Radiation Protection Trinity

Patient Safety Measures

Radiopharmaceutical Selection

Preferred agents for common procedures:

Procedure	Isotope	Half-life	Energy
Bone Scan	Tc-99m MDP	6 hrs	140 keV
Thyroid Scan	I-123	13.2 hrs	159 keV

Post-procedure Protocol

• Hydration: 500ml water hourly for first 4 hours
• Contamination prevention:
  • Separate bathroom use for 24hrs
  • Double-flush toilet
• Contact restrictions:
  • Infants/Pregnant women: 18hrs
  • Adults: 6hrs

Special Population Guidelines

Pediatric Nuclear Medicine

Critical applications in pediatric diagnostics:

• Renal cortical scintigraphy (DMSA)
• Gastric emptying studies
• Meckel's scan (Tc-99m pertechnetate)