Abstract

CUTANDA HENRIQUEZ, Francisco  and  VARGAS CASTRILLON, Silvia. Impact of a PET/CT facility in its community environment. Rev. Esp. Salud Publica [online]. 2011, vol.85, n.3, pp. 297-303. ISSN 1135-5727.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1135-57272011000300008.

Background: The PET/CT (Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography) technique is currently expanding, with new facilities and indications appearing every year. Being mostly an outpatient technique, patients leave the facility when the study has been performed, although they still retain a certain amount of radiopharmaceutical. Therefore, setting up a PET/CT facility might involve a risk increase for the population. This study aims at estimating this risk. Methods: Comprehensive measurements to estimate dose levels have been carried out in the PET/CT facility at Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón. The population has been distributed into five categories according to their involvement in the studies and their radiation exposure. A quantitative dose estimation has been carried out. Results: The risk associated with a PET/CT facility has been assessed and no risk increase has been detected. Staff dose is shown to be less than 2 μSv per patient, ˜20 μSv for an accompanying person and ˜40 μSv for a relative. Citizens walking along with patients or sharing public transportation with them receive a dose that is below Madrid´s background radiation. Conclusions: Values obtained are well below annual dose limits. Moreover, these results support the outpatient care of this kind of studies, because accompanying persons´ and relatives´ risk is negligible. The impact of a PET/CT facility does not involve an increase in risk for the general population.

Keywords : Radiopharmaceuticals; Positron-Emission Tomography; Tomography X-Ray Computed; Radiation dosage; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18.