Long-term monitoring of radiation exposure of employees in the department of nuclear medicine (Szczecin, Poland) in the years 1991-2007

Abstract

Occupational radiation exposure is a hazard that should be avoided or at least minimised. This study aimed to evaluate the radiation exposure of nuclear medicine department employees monitored during the 1991-2007 period, and to investigate the relationship between the annual effective doses of the personnel and the number of radioisotope procedures performed. Overall, 2014 quarterly effective whole-body doses, categorised into six occupational groups, monitored with personal dosemeters, were analysed statistically. There was a wide variation in the average annual doses among the different occupational groups. During the 17 years covered by this study, there was no incidence of a dose exceeding the annual dose limit of 20 mSv. There was a weak correlation between the average annual dose for monitored employees and the number of nuclear medicine procedures performed. Apart from exposure, personal skill in dealing with radioactive substances, compliance with radiation protection rules is an important factor to minimise the effective dose.

Variation of annual effective dose from external ionizing radiation among radiation workers of Bahawalpur Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Oncology (BINO), Pakistan

“…medical uses (23) , the number of workers in radiation therapy, nuclear medicine and radiology departments and their average annual effective doses are presented in Table 3. Higher doses of radia on workers as reported by various researchers (17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22) .…”

“…Table 7. Comparison of average annual effec ve doses in Nuclear Medicine, Radia on Therapy and Radiology in present inves ga on with other researchers (14,(19)(20)(21)(24)(25)(26) .…”

“…The result of annual average effective dose (AAED) is a sign of general tendency of (17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22) are listed in table 3 for comparison. The results of current analysis are comparable to other researchers (17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22) .…”

“…S. A. Memon et al (17) 3.6 G. K. Korir et al (18) 7.4 H. Piwowarska-Bilska et al (19) 9.5 F. Hasford et al (20) 9.8 K. Masood (21) 7.42 S. A. Memon et al (22) 7.78 Current Study 4.95 Table 4. The distribu on of number of radia on workers (NOW) and their annual average effec ve doses (AAED) in mSv as well as standards devia on (SD) during 2000-13 in radia on therapy, nuclear medicine and radiology.…”

“…Jabeen A et al (14) 1.55 1.17 1.47 Piwowarska-Bilska H et al (19) 2.47 --Hasford F et al (20) 0.63 0.16 0.76 Masood K et al (21) 1.12 0.88 0.52 Pvaluckas PK et al (24) 1.67 1.48 1.87 Kamenopoulou V et al (25) 2.27 2 3.86 Weizhang W et al (26) 1.4 Annual average effective dose values for nuclear medicine, radiation therapy and radiology when averaged over the investigated period were 1.88, 1.44 and 1.49 mSv respectively. These values are comparable with other investigators (14,(19)(20)(21)(24)(25)(26) as shown in table 7.…”