Radiation and Radioactivity

Abstract

¹³¹I therapy may result in the patient becoming a hazard to other people. When a patient treated with ¹³¹I is hospitalized, caregivers must take special precautions to protect themselves against the radiation from the ¹³¹I in the patient. When patients are released immediately or shortly after treatment, they must take precautions to protect members of the public. Special governmental regulations affect the management of patients who are treated with ¹³¹I, and the physician administering the ¹³¹I must comply with these regulations. The treating physician must communicate to the patient the risk of radiation from the ¹³¹I treatment and any special precautions the patient should take to protect others. The patient should relay the information to the patient’s family, friends, and caretakers. Communication of precautions is challenging, and patients may forget what they have been told (Ong et al., Soc Sci Med 40:903–918, 1995). A balance must be achieved in convincing the patient to agree with these specific instructions and, at the same time, dispel unnecessary fear. For this balance, the physician may need to adopt different strategies with different patients, requiring a good working knowledge of radiation and radioactivity, ionizing and nonionizing radiation, and units of radioactivity and radiation dosage. The physician must also know the regulations for hospitalization, conditions for earlier release, radiation safety precautions during hospital stay and upon release, and the myths and fears about radioactivity. This chapter presents an overview of these topics.