Radiation exposure and dosimetry in transplant patients due to Nuclear Medicine studies

Organ transplantation is now an accepted method of therapy for treating pat ients with end stage failure of kidneys, liver, heart or lung. Nuclear Medi cine may provide functional data and semi-quantitative parameters. However one serious factor that hampers the use of nuclear medicine procedures in t ransplant patients is the general clinical concern about radiation exposure to the patient. This leads us to discuss the effective doses and radiation dosimetry associated with radionuclide procedures used in the management a nd follow-up of transplant patients. A simple way to place the risk associa ted with Nuclear Medicine studies in an appropriate context is to compare t he dose with that received from a more familiar source of exposure such as from a diagnostic X-ray procedure. The radiation dose for the different rad iopharmaceuticals used to study transplant organ function ranges between 0. 1 and 5.3 mSv which is comparable to X-ray procedures with the exception of (201)T1 and In-111-antimyosin. Thus Nuclear Medicine studies do not bear a higher radiation risk than the often used X-ray studies in transplant pati ents.