Historical Patterns in the Types of Procedures Performed and Radiation Safety Practices Used in Nuclear Medicine from 1945–2009

Details

• Personal Author:
  Alexander BH ; Bolus NE ; Doody MM ; Drozdovitch V ; Kitahara CM ; Lim H ; Simon SL ; Van Dyke ME ; Alexander BH ; Bolus NE ; Doody MM ; Drozdovitch V ; Kitahara CM ; Lim H ; Simon SL ; Van Dyke ME
• Description:
  The authors evaluated historical patterns in the types of procedures performed in diagnostic and therapeutic nuclear medicine and the associated radiation safety practices used from 1945-2009 in a sample of U.S. radiologic technologists. In 2013-2014, 4,406 participants from the U.S. Radiologic Technologists (USRT) Study who previously reported working with medical radionuclides completed a detailed survey inquiring about the performance of 23 diagnostic and therapeutic radionuclide procedures and the use of radiation safety practices when performing radionuclide procedure-related tasks during five time periods: 1945-1964, 1965-1979, 1980-1989, 1990-1999, and 2000-2009. An overall increase in the proportion of technologists who performed specific diagnostic or therapeutic procedures was observed across the five time periods. Between 1945-1964 and 2000-2009, the median frequency of diagnostic procedures performed substantially increased (from 5 wk?1 to 30 wk?1), attributable mainly to an increasing frequency of cardiac and non-brain PET scans, while the median frequency of therapeutic procedures performed modestly decreased (from 4 mo?1 to 3 mo?1). Also a notable increase was observed in the use of most radiation safety practices from 1945-1964 to 2000-2009 (e.g., use of lead-shielded vials during diagnostic radiopharmaceutical preparation increased from 56 to 96%), although lead apron use dramatically decreased (e.g., during diagnostic imaging procedures, from 81 to 7%). These data describe historical practices in nuclear medicine and can be used to support studies of health risks for nuclear medicine technologists. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Health Personnel Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Radiation Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Occupational Exposure Health Care Workers Medical Personnel Nuclear Medicine Occupational Exposure Radiation Exposure Radiation Protection Radiation Shielding Radiology Radionuclide Safety Practices

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• ISSN:
  0017-9078
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article ; Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Alabama ; Maryland ; Minnesota ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health ; Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America ; North America
• Pages in Document:
  37-46
• Volume:
  111
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20064398
• Citation:
  Health Phys 2016 Jul; 111(1):37-46
• Contact Point Address:
  Cari M. Kitahara, National Cancer Institute, 9609 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD 20850
• Email:
  meinholdc@mail.nih.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2016
• Performing Organization:
  University of Minnesota Twin Cities
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Health Physics
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:06d350e4fd7453584b469ba66c5269389f234428bfe68c8458202a8eb38ae16079a07656655b14114981b49ccef0f3af3f7bdddbaccba05d96f915064cbaf198
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/222863/cdc_222863_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 551.00 KB ]