Abstract
The practice of pediatric nuclear medicine requires attention to detail with regard to radiation protection of the health professionals involved in acquiring the studies, the patients, and their families. Since performance of the studies may entail a more hands-on approach, particularly in very small children, those involved in acquiring the studies often need to be closer to the patient than would be the case in adult nuclear medicine. For example, a bone scan in a smaller child may require two technologists where one helps with the immobilization of the patient while the other acquires the study. In this instance, not only are two technologists involved with a single patient, but one may need to hold the radioactive patient in order to acquire the required view to make the clinical decision. In addition, if sedation or anesthesia is necessary to complete the study, other health professionals such as nurses and anesthesiologists may need to be in the imaging room with the radioactive patient. Lastly, there may be some studies such as ictal brain SPECT where the patient is injected remotely from the nuclear medicine clinic which may present unique radiation protection considerations.
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Fahey, F.H., Lorenzen, W.A. (2014). Radiation Protection in Pediatric Nuclear Medicine. In: Treves, S. (eds) Pediatric Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9551-2_29
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9551-2_29
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