Holiday travel can ring more than jingle bells
The Society of Nuclear Medicine wants healthcare providers to inform patients undergoing nuclear medicine treatment or testing that they may set off security alarms at high-risk locations with the radioactive materials in their bodies.
The Society of Nuclear Medicine wants healthcare providers to inform patients undergoing nuclear medicine treatment or testing that they may set off security alarms at high-risk locations with the radioactive materials in their bodies.
The warning comes at a time when many people will be traveling over the upcoming holidays.
"Due to heightened concerns about terrorism, sensitive radiation detectors are used in some major cities and in public transportation facilities," said SNM president Dr. Martin P. Sandler. "Occasionally, a patient who has had a nuclear medicine procedure may be stopped by security personnel because he or she may trigger the alarm on a radiation detector. On rare occasions, this could cause long delays, interrogation, and body searches."
Commonly used radioisotopes that could set off radiation monitors include technetium-99m, F-18 FDG, and thallium-201. The majority of problems with radiation monitors have involved the use of iodine-131, which may be detectable for as long as three months after treatment.
Most nuclear medicine studies are performed with Tc-99m, which should not be detectable by sensitive radiation monitors three or four days after a test. FDG is the most common radioisotope used with PET imaging, and it should become undetectable one day after a test.
Myocardial perfusion imaging can be performed with TC-99m or Tl-201 or a combination of both. Tl-201 may remain detectable for up to 30 days.
Healthcare providers should discuss how long patients may emit detectable radiation following treatment. The SNM recommends that patients be given a letter detailing contact information for the testing facility, the name of the nuclear medicine procedure, the date of the treatment or test, the radionuclide that was used with its half-life and administered activity, and 24-hour contact information.
For more information from the Diagnostic Imaging archives:
ACR primer helps prepare for radiological terrorism
What is the Best Use of AI in CT Lung Cancer Screening?
April 18th 2025In comparison to radiologist assessment, the use of AI to pre-screen patients with low-dose CT lung cancer screening provided a 12 percent reduction in mean interpretation time with a slight increase in specificity and a slight decrease in the recall rate, according to new research.
The Reading Room: Racial and Ethnic Minorities, Cancer Screenings, and COVID-19
November 3rd 2020In this podcast episode, Dr. Shalom Kalnicki, from Montefiore and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, discusses the disparities minority patients face with cancer screenings and what can be done to increase access during the pandemic.
Can CT-Based AI Radiomics Enhance Prediction of Recurrence-Free Survival for Non-Metastatic ccRCC?
April 14th 2025In comparison to a model based on clinicopathological risk factors, a CT radiomics-based machine learning model offered greater than a 10 percent higher AUC for predicting five-year recurrence-free survival in patients with non-metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC).
Could Lymph Node Distribution Patterns on CT Improve Staging for Colon Cancer?
April 11th 2025For patients with microsatellite instability-high colon cancer, distribution-based clinical lymph node staging (dCN) with computed tomography (CT) offered nearly double the accuracy rate of clinical lymph node staging in a recent study.
