What an exciting time to be involved in nuclear medicine. After 20 plus years of mostly the same products and radioisotopes being utilized in nuclear medicine a whole new group of products and radioisotopes have been or are in the process of being approved by the FDA. While some of these products have been used in clinical studies at large academic institutions (with large teams to support radiation safety programs) we are now faced with the need for smaller facilities to develop policies and procedures before their first use. The required Nuclear Regulatory Commission/agreement state regulations (10 CFR 35.26 and 10 CFR 35.41) may have you concerned about developing and implementing new procedures if you are a Radiation Safety Officer (RSO) or a nuclear medicine technologist who is responsible for most radiation safety related duties.
Considerations should include
• Potential license amendment needs beyond the simple addition of a new radioisotope
• Proper equipment to detect and measure the radioisotope
• Possible policy and procedure modification to address action levels for training, spills and waste handling
If you are one of these smaller places wanting to use Ra-223, Lu-177, Ga-68, Cu-64, Ac-225 or Y-90 and need assistance with the list above you should contact your favorite MPC physicist or visit our resources page for a complete guide to handling these products correctly.
Tchin-tchin!