Benefit vs risk in the practice of nuclear medicine

Journal Article · Sat Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1975 · Minn. Med.; (United States)

OSTI ID:7346283

Loken, M K; Payne, J T

Uses of radioisotopes in the practice of medicine have increased several fold during the past two decades leading to the establishment in 1972 of certification in the specialty of Nuclear Medicine by the National Board of Medical Examiners. An overview of radiation exposures to patients undergoing Nuclear Medicine procedures has been presented along with considerations of benefits that patients might derive from having had these procedures performed. Specific reference has been made to representative procedures in which specific radiopharmaceuticals are administered to patients. The radiation dose to patients is shown to be quite low for most procedures, almost always less than that delivered during comparable radiologic procedures. The risk from low doses of radiation has been conservatively estimated by extrapolating to zero dose from data on radiation effects observed at high dose levels. Thus, this conservative estimate represents the maximum risk, with the actual risk likely to be considerably below this value. This fact has been substantiated in many experiments in radiation biology in which a radiation dose has been delivered using several fractionated smaller doses, allowing for repair and recovery between each dose and thus reducing the radiation effect from that which would have occurred had the radiation been delivered acutely.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis
• OSTI ID: 7346283
• Journal Information: Minn. Med.; (United States), Journal Name: Minn. Med.; (United States) Vol. 58:2; ISSN MIMDA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

550601* -- Medicine-- Unsealed Radionuclides in Diagnostics
62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE
BODY
COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS
COUNTING TECHNIQUES
DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES
DOCUMENT TYPES
DOSES
DRUGS
LABELLED COMPOUNDS
LUNGS
MEDICINE
NUCLEAR MEDICINE
ORGANS
PATIENTS
RADIATION DOSES
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOISOTOPE SCANNING
RADIOPHARMACEUTICALS
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
REVIEWS
SCINTISCANNING