Environmental Radiation Doses from Patients Undergoing Tc-99m DMSA Cortical Renal Scintigraphy

Abstract

Ionizing radiation is often used for imaging in health applications. One of them is scintigraphic method. one of the radiation emitters used in nuclear medicine is technesium-99m (Tc-99m). This isotope releases gamma rays at about the same wavelength as conventional X-ray diagnostic equipment, with 140 keV gamma ray energy which has a ideal short half-life (t_½ = 6 h)  for diagnostic nuclear imaging. Before imaging, the patient is injected with Tc-99m. After injecting Tc-99m, the patient begins to emit radiation to the environment. Determination of this radiation dose emitted by the patient is very important for public health. The main objective of this study was to determine the environmental radiation doses in patients undergoing Tc-99m DMSA cortical renal scintigraphy. In this study, the radiation dose rate emitted by the patient about 5, 35 and 68 minutes after Tc-99m injection was measured at different distances from the patient. As a result of this study, the mean radiation dose at 5.07, 35.60 and 68.57 minutes after injection was found to be 5.06 µSvh^-1, 4.76 µSvh^-1 and 4.18 µSvh^-1 at a distance of 100 cm from the patient's chest level, respectively. The results are important in terms of knowing the radiation dose to which the patient will be exposed.