Franco Voltini

Tissue-specific dosimetry for radioiodine therapy of the autonomous thyroid nodule

A tissue-specific dosimetric method based on gamma camera acquisitions was developed to determine the 131I activity to administer to patients with autonomous thyroid nodules (ATN) to deliver 200 Gy to the nodule and to evaluate the correspondent dose to extranodular tissue. Twenty patients with ATN were given 111 MBq of 123I i.v. and their neck was imaged 2, 4, 24, 48, and 120 hours after administration to evaluate separate iodine kinetics for nodule and contralateral lobe. The volumes of nodule and lobe were measured on the 4 hour scintigraphic image, after optimization of the method on a thyroid phantom. Three simplified dosimetric methods were then considered and compared to the reference method in terms of 131I activity: (a) three point method, based on 4, 24, and 120 h acquisitions, (b) fixed T1/2 method, that measures only the 24 h uptake and assumes an effective half-life of 5 days for the nodule, (c) fixed activity method, based on the administration of 413 MBq of 131I. The mean 131I activity to administer to the 20 patients was 413 MBq (range 65-1327) and the mean dose to the contralateral lobe was 43 Gy (range 11-121). The percentage differences in 131I activity between the reference method and the simplified methods were in the ranges: (a) -14%, 13%, (b) -42%, 74%, (c) -69%, 533%. The relevant dose to extranodular tissue and the great interpatient variability of the radioiodine activity required to give a predetermined dose to ATN suggest that a tissue specific dosimetric approach based on gamma camera acquisitions is fundamental. A simple method based on only three uptake measurements is a reliable alternative to the five point method when the clinical workload of a Nuclear Medicine department is particularly heavy.

Potential third-party radiation exposure from outpatients treated with 131I for hyperthyroidism.

Thirty-three hyperthyroid patients treated with radioiodine (mean administered activity 414 MBq, range 163-555) were studied to determine if pretreatment dosimetry could be used to give radiation protection advice that could assure compliance with the effective dose constraints suggested by the European Commission. Effective doses to travelers, co-workers, and sleeping partners were estimated by integrating the effective dose rate-versus-time curve obtained by fitting the dose rates measured several times after radioiodine administration to a biexponential function. The mean estimated effective doses to travelers, co-workers, and sleeping partners were 0.11 mSv (0.05-0.24), 0.24 mSv (0.07-0.52), and 1.8 mSv (0.6-4.1), respectively. The best correlation was found between effective dose (D) in mSv and maximum activity (AUmax) in MBq taken up in the thyroid: Dtraveler=0.0005 * (AUmax) +0.04 (r=0.88,p< 0.01); Dco-worker=0.0013 * (A Umax) +0.03 (r=0.89,p < 0.01); Dsleeping partners=0.0105 * (AUmax)+0.16 (r=0.93,p < 0.01). Private/public transports are always allowed. For the co-workers the effective dose constraint of 0.3 mSv is met without restrictions and with 3 days off work if AUmax is lower or higher than 185 MBq, respectively. For the sleeping partners the effective dose constraint of 3 mSv is met without restriction and with 4 nights separate sleeping arrangements if AUmax is lower or higher than 185 MBq, respectively. The potential for contamination by the patients was determined from perspiration samples taken from the patients hands, forehead, and neck and in saliva at 4, 24, and 48 h after radioiodine treatment. The mean highest 131I activity levels for hands, forehead, neck, and saliva were 4.1 Bq/cm2, 1.9 Bq/cm2, 0.9 Bq/cm2, and 796 kBq/g, respectively. The results indicate that there is minimal risk of contamination from these patients.

Usefulness and limits of distal echo-Doppler velocimetric indices for assessing renal hemodynamics in stenotic and non-stenotic kidneys.

Background Distal echo-Doppler velocimetric indices are widely used for revealing the presence of a renal artery stenosis but there is scarce information as to whether they reflect the renal hemodynamics in stenotic and non-stenotic kidneys. Objectives and methods We evaluated the pulsatility and resistive indices (PI and RI), acceleration (A) and acceleration time (A t) and correlated their values with those of effective renal plasma flow (ERPF), glomerular filtration rate (GFR), renal vascular resistance (RVR) and filtration fraction (FF) estimated by single kidney scintigraphy in 24 kidneys with 70–95% renal artery stenosis (atherosclerotic n = 17, fibromuscular n = 7) and in 27 non-stenotic kidneys (11 contralateral to renal artery stenosis and 16 of patients with essential hypertension). In patients with stenotic kidneys, these measurements were repeated within 7 days after a successful percutaneous transluminal renal angioplasty (PTRA) (in 11 arteries performed in combination with stent implantation). Results Prior to dilation we found that the stenotic kidneys had significantly lower values of ERPF, GFR and higher RVR than the non-stenotic kidneys and that these hemodynamic alterations were associated with those, also statistically significant, of the four velocimetric indices. In non-stenotic kidneys, there were highly significant relationships between PI and ERPF, and RVR (r = − 0.68 and 0.81 respectively P < 0.01); similar relationships were found for RI (r = − 0.67 and 0.78 P < 0.01) whereas no such correlations were found between these two velocimetric indices and GFR and FF; also no correlations were found between A and A t and ERPF, GFR, RVR and FF. In stenotic kidneys no significant correlations were found between any of the velocimetric and the hemodynamic indices. Renal artery dilation induced clear cut increments in ERPF, GFR and reduction in RVR in post-stenotic kidneys, which were associated with normalization of all four velocimetric indices. No relationships were observed between the renal hemodynamic and the velocimetric changes induced by dilation; however in post-stenotic kidneys the relationships between PI and RI, ERPF and RVR were restored as in non-stenotic kidneys. Conclusions These data indicate that PI and RI can be used to assess ERPF and RVR both in non-stenotic and post-stenotic kidneys; however, none of the velocimetric indices examined in this study can provide valid informations on the renal hemodynamics of stenotic kidneys and on their changes induced by PTRA.

Changes in the energy response of a dedicated gamma camera after exposure to a high-flux irradiation

This work reports the effects of the gain variation of the photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) observed on a cardiac dedicated gamma camera after accidental high-flux irradiation. One detector of this dual-headed 90 degrees-fixed gamma camera was accidentally left uncollimated during a quality assurance procedure on the other detector with a 57Co flood source (259 MBq) and received a non-uniform high flux of 1.9-0.6 Mcps over 25000 mm2 areas for about 30 min. To evaluate the severity and the duration of the perturbation effect on the energy response of the detector, the photopeak position was monitored for about 1 month with a 99mTc point source. The 140 keV photopeak shifted to 158 keV soon after irradiation, reached the correct position after 9 days and moved to a stable value of 132 keV after 15 days. Afterwards, a new energy calibration reset the photopeak position at 140 keV and the correct energy response of the gamma camera. This experience suggests that particular care should be taken to avoid exposures to high radiation fluxes that induce persistent gain shifts on the PMTs of this system.