Hot patients setting off U.S. radiation alarms

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" Hot " patients setting off U.S. radiation alarms

 

 

 

By Jane Sutton Tue Jan 30, 8:35 AM ET

 

 

MIAMI (Reuters) - When 75,000 football fans pack into Dolphin Stadium in

Miami for the Super Bowl on February 4, at least a few may want to carry notes

from their doctors explaining why they're radioactive enough to set off " dirty

bomb " alarms.

With the rising use of radioisotopes in medicine and the growing use of

radiation detectors in a security-conscious nation, patients are triggering

alarms in places where they may not even realize they're being scanned, doctors

and security officials say.

Nearly 60,000 people a day in the United States undergo treatment or tests

that leave tiny amounts of radioactive material in their bodies, according to

the Society of Nuclear Medicine. It is not enough to hurt them or anyone else,

but it is enough to trigger radiation alarms for up to three months.

Since the September 11 attacks, the U.S. Department of _Homeland Security_

(http://search.news./search/news/?p=Homeland+Security) has distributed

more than 12,000 hand-held radiation detectors, mainly to Customs and Border

Protection agents at airports, seaports and border crossings. Sensors are

also used at government buildings and at large public events like the Super

Bowl that are considered potential terrorist targets.

At the annual Christmas tree-lighting party in New York City's Rockefeller

Center in November, police pulled six people aside in the crowd and asked them

why they had tripped sensors.

" All six had recently had medical treatments with radioisotopes in their

bodies, " Richard Falkenrath, the city's deputy commissioner for

counterterrorism, told a Republican governors' meeting in Miami recently. " That

happens all

the time. "

Radioisotopes are commonly used to diagnose and treat certain cancers and

thyroid disorders, to analyze heart function, or to scan bones and lungs.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission first recommended in 2003 that doctors warn

patients they may set off alarms after being injected or implanted with

radioisotopes. That came after police stopped a bus that set off a radiation

detector in a New York City tunnel. They found one of the passengers had

recently undergone thyroid treatment with radioiodine.

In August, the British Medical Journal described the case of a very

embarrassed 46-year-old Briton who set off the sensors at Orlando airport in

Florida

six weeks after having radioiodine treatment for a thyroid condition.

He was detained, strip-searched and sniffed by police dogs before eventually

being released, the journal said in its " Lesson of the Week " section.

" I'M HOT! "

Workers in the nuclear industry have dealt with the problem for years. Ken

Clark, a spokesman in Atlanta for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, has had a

treadmill stress test every two years since undergoing bypass surgery 23

years ago.

His doctor injects him with a tiny amount of radioactive thallium, makes him

run on a treadmill and then uses a gamma ray camera to monitor blood flow in

his heart.

That can leave him slightly radioactive for up to 30 days and Clark knows to

carry a note from his doctor during that time, especially if he visits

nuclear power plants.

" I have in the past had one of the health physicists bring a little hand-held

survey meter and hold it up to my chest and lo and behold, I'm hot! " Clark

said.

" You just don't let people in and out of places when they're emitting some

sort of radioactivity, " You just d

The length of time patients give off enough radiation to set off alarms

varies. For some scans, like the FDG-PET scans often used to screen for cancer,

it's less than 24 hours. For thyroid treatment with radioiodine, it can be as

long as 95 days, the Society of Nuclear Medicine said.

Dr. Henry Royal, a past president of the society who practices at the

Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at Washington University in St. Louis,

Missouri, gives patients who plan to travel cards detailing what radionuclides

were

used and how much was given.

The cards have a 24-hour phone number police can call to confirm the

treatment, " so if they're stopped, hopefully they can get the problem solved

more

efficiently,The cards have

Nobody keeps good data on how often patients get stopped. Customs and Border

Protection spokesman Zachary Mann said it's relatively infrequent at

airports, and that passengers who set off hand-held sensors are typically

escorted to

a private office for questioning that clears up the matter.

If there's doubt, a more sophisticated device is used to identify the type of

radiation, said Mann, who once set off another agent's portable detector

after a treadmill test.

There were nearly 20 million nuclear medical procedures performed in the

United States in 2005, up 15 percent from four years earlier, so the number of

people who could potentially be mistaken for terrorists is enormous.

" We hope that people who have radiation detectors are aware of the problem

.... and that they treat people with respect, " Royal said.