Establishment of National Diagnostic Reference Level for bone Radiation Doses in Nuclear Medicine Department in Khartoum –Sudan

Abstract

A diagnostic reference level (DRL) is an investigational level used to identify unusual high radiation doses in Nuclear Medicine procedures. DRLs are suggested action levels above which a facility should review its methods and determine if acceptable image quality can be achieved at lower doses. The high specific activity of 99mTc makes it suitable as a first pass agent, for multiple or sequential studies. Is preferred to 99mTc - pertechnetate. A certain amount of radiopharmaceuticals was injected into each patient and was immediately imaged with gamma camera to calculate the activity through the conjugated view method. According to the American Association of Physics in Medicine (AAPM) recommendation that the radiation dose for bone scan (99mTc –MDP) should be between 555 MBq (15 mCi) and 970 MBq (26 mCi) , this study showed that the patients received a radiation dose less than 26 mCi with acceptable image quality. Thereforethis study can be considered as a basis for the establishment of dose reference level activity for bone scan of nuclear medicine departments in Sudan.