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. 2018 Jul 20;8(1):10976.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-29449-9.

Detection of alpha radionuclides in air from patients during Ra-223 alpha radionuclide therapy

Seiichi Yamamoto  1 , Katsuhiko Kato  2 , Naotoshi Fujita  3 , Masato Yamashita  3 , Takuya Nishimoto  3 , Hiroshi Kameyama  3 , Shinji Abe  3
Affiliations

Detection of alpha radionuclides in air from patients during Ra-223 alpha radionuclide therapy

Seiichi Yamamoto et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Ra-223 has recently been introduced to alpha radionuclide therapy. According to the decay scheme of Ra-223, an inert gas, Rn-219 is released from patients during alpha radionuclide therapy and its daughter radionuclides may accumulate around the patient. However, the concentration of these radon daughters during alpha radionuclide therapy was not obvious. Here, we first detected the radon daughters of Rn-219 around patients during alpha radionuclide therapy. While the Ra-223-administered patients were in a room for ~1.5 hours, the radon daughter concentration increased to 4 to 5 times higher than without the patients. When the patients were in the room, the energy spectra of the alpha particles in the air showed the peak of the radon daughter of Rn-219, Bi-211 (6.6 MeV), which was different from that without the patients. We conclude that the daughter radionuclides of Rn-219 are accumulated around the patient, and the concentration was higher than that of the natural radon daughters. However, the increase in levels of alpha emitters, while detectable, is lower than the daily variations and thus is likely not a source of concern for radiation exposure.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Major decay chains of Ra-223 (A) and Ra-226 (B).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Rn-222 concentration (A), concentration and daughter radionuclides of Rn-219 and Rn-222 (B), and magnified curve of concentration and daughter radionuclides (C) for first trial.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Rn-222 concentration (A), concentration and daughter radionuclides of Rn-219 and Rn-222 (B), and magnified curve of concentration and daughter radionuclides (C) for second trial.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Energy spectra of alpha particles when patients were not in the room (A), when those patients were in the room (B) and subtracted spectra of these two (C).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Schematic drawing (A) and photo (B) of Rn-222 detector.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Schematic drawing (A) and photo (B) of detector for daughter radionuclides of Rn-219 and Rn-222 with energy spectra of alpha particles.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Photo during measurements of Rn-222 concentration and daughter radionuclides of Rn-219 and Rn-222 with energy spectra.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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