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    Br J Radiol. 2009 Jun;82(978):491-6. Epub 2009 Feb 2.

    Radiation dose measurements for personnel performing 90Y-ibritumomab tiuxetan administration: a comparison between two injection methods for dose reduction.

    Law M, Liu R, Ng S, Luk MY, Leung TW, Au GK.

    Department of Clinical Oncology, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong.

    The purpose of this study was to directly measure, using thermoluminescent dosimeters, the radiation doses received by radiation team members performing (90)Y-ibritumomab tiuxetan administration. The occupational doses associated with two injection methods for patient administration - an automatic syringe driver and an injection box - were compared. The associated risks, namely cancer induction and hereditary effect, were also estimated from the results and compared with risk factors recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection publication 103. The results showed that the doses received by the index and thumb of the right hand and the index finger of the left hand of the radiation oncologist were significantly reduced by using the injection box method. The difference in the dose received by the medical physicist using the two methods was not statistically significant. It was observed that three pairs of latex gloves could further reduce the dose to the hands. The radiological risks of cancer induction and hereditary effect were negligible: of the order of 10(-6) and 10(-7) per (90)Y-ibritumomab tiuxetan administration, respectively, for both methods. However, the results of our study also showed that it would be possible in a busy centre for pregnant women to receive a dose of (90)Y-ibritumomab tiuxetan that exceeds the recommended annual dose limit for the surface of the abdomen.

    PMID: 19188242 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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      Ibritumomab injection is used with rituximab (Rituxan) to treat certain types of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (cancer that begins in the cells of the immune system) that has not improved or that has worsened after treatment wi...