Population effective collective dose from nuclear medicine examination in Cuba

• Published in: Radiation protection dosimetry 2006-12, Vol.121 (4), p.438-444, Article 438
• Main Authors: Flores, O. Brígido, Caballero, A. Barreras, Sánchez, O. Lasserra, Estrada, A. Montalván, García, J. Hernández
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Body Burden; Cuba - epidemiology; Female; Humans; Incidence; Male; Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced - mortality; Nuclear Medicine - statistics & numerical data; Organ Specificity; Radiation Dosage; Radiometry - statistics & numerical data; Radionuclide Imaging - statistics & numerical data; Relative Biological Effectiveness; Risk Assessment - methods; Risk Factors
• ISSN: 0144-8420; 1742-3406
• DOI: 10.1093/rpd/ncl049

In an attempt to estimate the effective collective dose imparted to the population of Camagüey-Ciego de Avila territory, Cuba, we have made use of the statistics from nuclear medicine examinations given to a population of 1.1 million inhabitants for the years 1995–1999. The average annual frequency of examinations was estimated to be 3.82 per 1000 population. The results show that nuclear medicine techniques of thyroid imaging with 43.73% and thyroid uptake with 43.36% are the main techniques implicated in the relative contribution to the total annual effective collective dose, which averaged 54.43 man Sv for the studied period. Radiation risks for the Camagüey-Ciego de Avila population caused by nuclear medicine examinations in the period studied were calculated: the total number of fatal and non-fatal cancers was 16.33 and the number of serious hereditary disturbance was 3.54 as a result of 21,073 nuclear medicine procedures, corresponding to a total detriment of one case per thousand examinations.