Abstract
The practitioner of pediatric nuclear medicine should have some knowledge of radiation effects and the potential hazards that may result from low-level radiation exposures. There are several reasons such information is essential. First, specialists should ensure that the exposure of patients to radiation from diagnostic or therapeutic procedures is not excessive. Although all current radiopharmaceuticals deliver radiation doses within a readily acceptable range, such was not the case 30 years ago when the radionuclides employed were generally longer-lived and emitted significant particulate radiation, e.g., iodine-131, strontium 87. As a result, before 1970 at Children’s Hospital Boston, radionuclides were administered only to patients with advanced neoplastic diseases. Today, as new agents are introduced, it is imperative to understand the kinetics of their distribution and the resulting radiation doses delivered to various organs. Moreover, for those who participate in clinical trials, an estimation of the absorbed radiation dose is required by institutional review boards, as is some assessment of the potential hazard.
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James Adelstein, S. (2007). Radiation Risk. In: Treves, S.T. (eds) Pediatric Nuclear Medicine/PET. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-32322-0_19
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-32322-0_19
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