Society News Archive
The Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued new guidance to medical licensees concerning
outpatient treatment of thyroid patients with iodine-131 (I-131), strongly
discouraging doctors from recommending patients stay at hotels immediately after
treatment.
The guidance responds to continuing concerns
that thyroid patients, who typically remain radioactive for a few days following
administration of I-131, sometimes check into hotels or motels instead of going
home, raising the potential that other people—especially hotel workers and
guests—may unknowingly be exposed to radiation.
“There
is no evidence that patients treated with radioactive iodine pose any
significant health or safety risk to members of the public,” said Robert J.
Lewis, director of the NRC’s Division of Materials Safety and State Agreements.
“However, it is the NRC’s goal to limit unnecessary radiation exposure to anyone
to the greatest degree possible, and it is the doctor’s responsibility to
instruct the patient on how to achieve that.”
