An investigation into internal exposure management needs for nuclear medicine practitioners and temporary visitors through I-131 internal dose assessment: Focusing on large hospitals in South Korea

PURPOSE: To investigate the internal exposure of nuclear medicine practitioners in South Korea. METHODS: This study selected nuclear medicine practitioners among domestic hospitals and quantitatively measured their degree of internal exposure to radioisotopes, and conducted a dose assessment based on the results. For the dose assessment, 35 nuclear medicine practitioners at seven large hospitals were selected as the measurement subjects, and the measurements were obtained using the thyroid count, total body count, and a urine sample analysis. The internal exposure was measured once every two weeks, and measurements were obtained three to 15 times according to the practitioners. RESULTS: As a result of measuring and analyzing the radionuclides with urine samples, one or more detections above the minimum detectable activity (MDA) was identified in 52 (15%) among all 340 cases for 14 of the practitioners (43%). The committed effective doses were evaluated as have a distribution of zero to 5.4 mSv, and were mostly 1 mSv or less. There were four practitioners exceeding 1 mSv based on the whole-body measurements, whose results from a urine sample analysis and thyroid monitoring all showed exposure of 1 mSv or less. All of the practitioners participated directly in the distribution and handling of radioactive sources, and none of the nurses exceeded 1 mSv. Furthermore, it was noteworthy that, among medical assistants who do not directly handle radioisotopes and are mainly involved in the transport of contaminated patients, there was one person who exceeded the whole-body measurement standard of 1 mSv. CONCLUSIONS: The committed effective dose of most nuclear medicine practitioners who participated in the survey was lower than 1 mSv. However, because the possibility of overexposure under special circumstances cannot be completely excluded, new strict radiation protection rules on the handling of open-source radioisotopes in hospitals are required for non-handling workers.