Assessment of External Radiation Dose Rate after 18 Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography Computed Tomography Examination

Abstract

This study was conducted to assess the external radiation dose after 18FDG-PET/CT Examination. 117 patients were enrolled in the study. Radiation exposure was measured using a calibrated RadEye SPRD-ER personal radiation detector. The measurements were made at 0, 30, 100, 150, and 200cm distance from the patient. The time of measurement was; immediately post-injection, 30 min, 60 min after injection, and at the time of releasing the patient. The result showed that the mean radiation equivalent dose rate at 0 min/0 cm was 414μSv/h, at 30 min/30 cm was 99.7μSv/h, and 60 min/100 cm was 18.3μSv/h. The radiation doses at different distances (0, 30, 100, 150, and 200cm) were 160.9μSv/h, 70.9μSv/h, 12.4μSv/h, 7μSv/h, and 3.7μSv/h respectively. In conclusion, radiation protection will be sufficient within 2 h after (18FFDG) injection for PET/CT and the radiation dose can be limited by increasing distance from the radiation source.