Article

A lightweight 0.25 mm lead equivalence protective apron for shielding radiological technologists from radiation exposure during single-photon emission computed tomography in nuclear medicine

¹ Gunma University Hospital, Department of Radiology, 3-39-15 Showa, Maebashi, Gunma 371-8511, Japan
² Gunma University, Graduate School of Medicine, Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, 3-39-22 Showa, Maebashi, Gunma 371-8511, Japan
³ Takasaki University of Health and Welfare, Laboratory of Biopharmaceutics, Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, 60 Nakaorui-machi, Takasaki, Gunma 370-0033, Japan
⁴ Hirosaki University Graduate School of Health Sciences, Department of Nuclear Medicine Technology, 66-1 Hon-cho, Hirosaki, Aomori 036-8564, Japan
⁵ Graduate School of Medicine, Gunma University Heavy Ion Medical Center, 3-39-22 Showa, Maebashi, Gunma 371-8511, Japan

^* Corresponding author: tkanzaki@gunma-u.ac.jp

Received: 12 June 2021
Accepted: 9 February 2022

Abstract

Radiological technologists in nuclear medicine departments (NMRTs) are exposed to higher radiation doses than other nuclear medicine staff. Consequently, the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency recommends using a 0.5-mm lead equivalence protective apron (PA) for staff with radiation exposure > 800 MBq of ^99mTc. However, 0.5 mm PA is heavy and cumbersome to use. We evaluated the effectiveness of a 0.25 mm lead equivalence lightweight protective apron (L-PA) for NMRT radiation exposure during daily nuclear medicine procedures. The work was performed both with a phantom and in a real situation in our study. The phantom study was conducted with five radioisotopes (RI) placed 0.5 m from the human phantom with and without L-PA. In the clinical study, NMRT recorded the radiation dose for 20 days inside and outside the L-PA using clinical agents (140 examinations). In the phantom study, L-PA decreased the measured doses by 63% with ²⁰¹Tl, 41% with ^99mTc, 27% with ⁶⁷Ga, 33% with ¹²³I, and 10% with ¹³¹I. In the clinical study, L-PA reduced the average dose per day by 43%. Therefore, L-PA could have sufficient shielding ability for daily work, mainly using ^99mTc, and could be recommended by considering PA weight.