Ambient and personnel occupational dose assessment in a Hospital's PET/CT center

Highlights: • The center is a new design different from the layout of a traditional PET/CT. • To isolate patients and staff can minimize the exposure for medical personnel. • After isolating patients and staff, the use of protective clothing is superfluous. • Fingertip doses of the dispensing and nurse groups were below the occupational limit. This study used thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs) to measure cumulative radiation doses in a PET/CT center. It covered 18 areas and four personnel groups. Because the isolated lead shielding separated the patients from the nurses, wearing protective clothing when injecting radiopharmaceuticals was unnecessary. Fingertip doses of the dispensing and nurse groups were below the occupational limit. Current radiopharmaceutical transportation and injection operations in this PET/CT center provide considerable radiation protection to medical personnel.