"Hot" patients need note to get through security

Typography
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Outpatient clinics that perform diagnostic procedures using radioactive materials could do a better job of telling patients that they may set off radiation detectors at security checkpoints, a study shows. Information and documentation that these facilities provide to patients "varies widely" in terms of quality, Dr. Armin Ansari, of the Radiation Studies Branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, who was involved in the study, told Reuters Health. "Some are extremely well done, some are not."

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Outpatient clinics that perform diagnostic procedures using radioactive materials could do a better job of telling patients that they may set off radiation detectors at security checkpoints, a study shows.

Information and documentation that these facilities provide to patients "varies widely" in terms of quality, Dr. Armin Ansari, of the Radiation Studies Branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, who was involved in the study, told Reuters Health. "Some are extremely well done, some are not."

A person who has a bone, thyroid or heart scan with radioactive material, or cancer treatment with radioactive implants, can trigger a radiation alarm for days or even months after the procedure, depending on the type of radiopharmaceutical used, Ansari and colleague Dr. Luba Katz of Abt Associates in Cambridge, Massachusetts, explain in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

!ADVERTISEMENT!

There have been reports in the medical literature and the media of people activating such alarms and being questioned and, in some cases, strip searched, by security officials.

Since September 11, radiation monitors are increasingly being used for security purposes, while millions of people undergo procedures involving radioactive material every year. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission suggests hospitals and clinics tell patients given radiopharmaceuticals that they run the risk of triggering a radiation alarm, and give them documentation to provide to law enforcement officials if necessary.

"It doesn't inconvenience people as much if they're prepared, if they carry documentation; I think it's better that way for everybody," noted Ansari.

The researchers surveyed 89 health care professionals working at 66 facilities using radiopharmaceuticals in 12 states to examine procedures for informing patients of these risks.

Just under two-thirds gave patients documentation, while about one third said they would provide it on request. Documentation varied from standardized cards providing information on the type of radioactive material used and its half life, as well as a phone number to call for more information, to handwritten notes on prescription pads or blank paper, which Ansari said would likely not be acceptable to law enforcement.

And while none of the healthcare professionals providing therapy with radiopharmaceuticals said it would be possible for a patient to leave their facility without knowing that they could be emitting detectable amounts of radiation, 11 out of 54 (20 percent), said this could happen with a diagnostic patient.

More than half of the health care professionals surveyed said they hadn't received training on how to communicate to patients about radiation risks, while two thirds of these individuals said they could benefit from such training, which Ansari said "is particularly important when you're talking about a subject like radiation, which requires skill and patience."

Ansari and Katz urge that this training be provided, and that the information and documentation given to patients who receive radiopharmaceuticals be standardized.

SOURCE: The Journal of Nuclear Medicine, December 2007.