Safety

Radioactive Materials

A common source of radiation in the clinical setting is from radioactive materials, which are commonly used for disease diagnosis and therapy. The following isotopes are examples of radioactive materials used in our clinical settings:

  • Tc-99m (cardiac imaging, bone scans)
  • F-18 (PET and PET/CT scans)
  • I-123 (thyroid uptake scans)
  • I-131 (ablation therapy)
  • I-125 (brachytherapy)

 

Radioactive Materials Shipping and Returns

Radiation safety will assist you with packaging, documenting, and shipping radioactive materials. Radiation safety ships through several licensed and approved hazardous materials vendors. To process a shipment, we require source serial number, type of isotope, reference date, and original activity.

Sealed Source Leak Testing

Sealed sources are required to be swiped biannually. Radiation safety is responsible for keeping an active inventory of sources and conducting swipe tests. It is the responsibility of the department to notify radiation safety of any new source received.

Please contact the Radiation Safety Program for any questions in regard to radioactive materials.