Population radiation exposure from diagnostic nuclear medicine procedures in Tehran 2011-14; trends in the last 3 decades

This study represents an update of Tehran population exposure from the diagnostic nuclear medicine procedures and the annual collective effective dose during 2011-14. The diagnostic nuclear medicine procedures data were collected from 58 out of 60 nuclear medicine centers in Tehran and were composed of the type and frequency of diagnostic examinations, radiopharmaceuticals used, administered activities, and age distribution of the patients. The annual number of examinations per 1000 population increased from 13.73 in 2011 to 22.59 in 2014 with an increase of 64.53% during 4 years. Most frequent examinations were cardiac (71.05%), bone (9.80%) and thyroid (7.26%) averaged over the 5 years. The collective effective dose increased from 807.74 person-Sv in 2011 to 1413.81 person-Sv in 2014. The effective dose per capita increased from 44.06 μSv in 2011 to 120.91 μSv in 2014, could be because of 70% increase of examinations, but ∼3.42% increase in the population of Tehran. (authors)