Dose Measurements of Relatives, together with Dose Mapping of Common Areas in the Nuclear Medicine Department at KAMC-Jeddah

Abstract

Abstract. The enormous hazard that radiation has on public in The Nuclear Medicine Department (NM) has necessitated the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (US-NRC) to set limits for the public doses. Regardless of the consequences of radiation, a small quantity of hospitals such as the Princess Noura Center at King Abdulaziz Medical City in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia does not have an estimated dose measurement for the NM department’s areas nor public (patients’ relatives). Therefore, the purpose of this study is to measure the doses for patient relatives and dose map the areas in the NM department. The data were measured in the form of Equivalent doses using OSL dosimeters. The methodology of collecting the data for relatives is based on three common procedures which are cardiac, bone, and renal scans. While collecting the data for the areas was fixed in seven positions which are two corridors, two waiting areas, two toilets and an injection room. A comparison between the data and US-NRC regulations were mainly based on the duration and the category. The date for the patient relative’s category resulted in 74 samples size while the dose mapping measurements resulted in 7 readings. The public regulation for the US-NRC is 0.002 mSv per hour, while for the area is 1.6 mSv per month. This study showed that the areas and public do not receive dose that exceeds the limits which is recommended by the regulations of US-NRC. Furthermore, several recommendations have been suggested in order to lower the dose for patient relatives and in the common area of the NM department.

Keywords. Nuclear Medicine, Radiation Protection, OSL, Radiology, Dose, EqD.