Radiation Exposure to Nuclear Medicine Staff Working with Tc99m Radiopharmaceutical
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Introduction: Nuclear medicine technologists are potentially exposed to ionizing radiations while performing a variety of tasks associated with nuclear medicine procedures. We measured the external radiation doses for staff members working with Tc-99m radiopharmaceuticals to assess the annual radiation doses. Methods: Radiation doses for a nuclear medicine physician, a technologist, a nurse, a radiopharmacist, and a cleaning staff were measured by digital dosimeters. We measured the radiation exposure of these five people every day for 1 month. The dosimeters were placed at the waist levels on the anterior surfaces of the bodies. Results: After correction of natural background doses, the mean 1-month radiation dose for the physician, technologist, nurse, radiopharmacist, and cleaning staff were determined as 102.37 +/- 15.16 mu Sv, 110.8 +/- 7.5 mu Sv, 84.67 +/- 8.2 mu Sv, 111.8 +/- 7.1 mu Sv, and 106.5 +/- 12.27 mu Sv, respectively. Discussion: This study showed that effective radiation doses for nuclear medicine department staff members were within the permissible level.