Simulation of the dose received by an occupationally exposed individual in the routine of a nuclear medicine service.

Abstract

Nuclear medicine uses radioactive material for the diagnosis and treatment of pathologies, providing detailed information about the functioning of organs. Bone scintigraphy identifies metabolic changes in bones using the radiopharmaceutical ^99mTc-MDP. However, this practice requires care towards the radiological protection of patients and professionals. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the absorbed doses by occupationally exposed individuals during the preparation, administration and imaging stages of this exam, using Monte Carlo simulation. The scenarios were modeled with Blender software and the professionals were represented by anthropomorphic mesh-type phantoms. The results of the study show that the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as lead aprons and thyroid protectors, reduced the effective dose by 71.40%, while handling the radiopharmaceutical. In addition, the use of lead shield during image acquisition resulted in a 99.18% reduction in the effective dose. These findings reinforce the importance of PPE and collective protection measures to keep occupational doses low.