Radiation Exposure to Staff Using PET/CT Facility

Abstract

Positron emission tomography (PET)combined with computed tomography (CT)has been playing key role in importantclinical decision-making in many areasever since its inception in the field ofmedical imaging. Most of the hospitals areenthusiastic for including PET/CT in theirimaging services because of its increasingapplication particularly in oncology.However, the occupational workers areapprehensive about the risk of higherradiation exposure in a PET/CT facilityeven more than that in conventional nuclearmedicine Gamma camera. There is a needtherefore to make the staff aware of theradiation doses they may likely get whileworking using this facility. We haveestimated the radiation exposure to thephysicians & technologists working in ourPET/CT facility based on the dose ratemeasurement with regularly calibratedpocket dosimeter and thermo-luminescentdetector (TLD); for cumulative doseconfirmation. The mean dose measured atthe chest level per PET/CT procedure was4 μSv and 4.75μSv for the physicians andtechnologists respectively. The mean doseto the physicians per MBq of 18F-FDGinjected was 10 nSv/MBq and 35 nSv/MBqat the chest and wrist levels respectively;whereas it was 12 and 25 nSv/MBq fortechnicians respectively