Cancer and Other Disease Risks in U.S. Nuclear Medicine Technologists
| Status: | Active, not recruiting |
|---|---|
| Conditions: | Breast Cancer, Cancer, Cancer, Cancer, Cancer, Brain Cancer, Thyroid Cancer |
| Therapuetic Areas: | Oncology |
| Healthy: | No |
| Age Range: | 18 - 100 |
| Updated: | 8/11/2018 |
| Start Date: | September 21, 2016 |
| End Date: | May 2, 2022 |
Background:
The field of nuclear medicine has changed a lot in the past decades. Technology has gotten
better, so patients are exposed to less radiation. But now workers are doing procedures more
often and using lead aprons less. So they may be exposed to more radiation. This may put them
at higher risk for cancers and other health problems that are related to radiation.
Researchers want to collect data from technologists to learn more about the risks and
appropriate doses of radiation.
Objective:
To learn more about the risks and appropriate doses of radiation for nuclear medicine
technologists.
Eligibility:
Adults who were first certified in nuclear medicine technology in the United States after
1980. They must be living in the United States. They must not be participants in the USRT
study.
Design:
Participants will be recruited online.
Participants will complete an online survey. It will take about a half hour. This will have
questions about their work with nuclear medicine procedures. There will be questions about
the kinds of procedures and how often they do them.
Participants will give a short work history. This will include the names of current and past
employers.
Participants will allow researchers to get records of their film badge dose readings. These
will come from dosimetry providers.
Dosimetry data will not be shared with participants. Researchers can t ensure the how
accurate or complete the data are.
The field of nuclear medicine has changed a lot in the past decades. Technology has gotten
better, so patients are exposed to less radiation. But now workers are doing procedures more
often and using lead aprons less. So they may be exposed to more radiation. This may put them
at higher risk for cancers and other health problems that are related to radiation.
Researchers want to collect data from technologists to learn more about the risks and
appropriate doses of radiation.
Objective:
To learn more about the risks and appropriate doses of radiation for nuclear medicine
technologists.
Eligibility:
Adults who were first certified in nuclear medicine technology in the United States after
1980. They must be living in the United States. They must not be participants in the USRT
study.
Design:
Participants will be recruited online.
Participants will complete an online survey. It will take about a half hour. This will have
questions about their work with nuclear medicine procedures. There will be questions about
the kinds of procedures and how often they do them.
Participants will give a short work history. This will include the names of current and past
employers.
Participants will allow researchers to get records of their film badge dose readings. These
will come from dosimetry providers.
Dosimetry data will not be shared with participants. Researchers can t ensure the how
accurate or complete the data are.
The field of nuclear medicine has expanded rapidly since its inception in the mid-20th
century, with nuclear medicine technologists now potentially experiencing higher levels of
radiation exposure relative to other medical worker populations. Many radiopharmaceuticals
and procedures used in previous decades are now obsolete and are being replaced by new and
emerging radioisotopes and combined-modality and molecular imaging procedures. While
improvements in imaging technologies and the introduction of certain radioisotopes have
generally reduced patient exposure to radiation, nuclear medicine technologists have become
increasingly specialized in these newer procedures and are performing these and other nuclear
medicine procedures with increasing frequency. Furthermore, lead aprons are less effective in
protecting workers during nuclear medicine procedures, specifically higher-energy procedures
(e.g., positron emission tomography (PET)), compared to other radiation-related procedures,
and are seldom used by technologists performing nuclear medicine. As a result, cumulative
doses to nuclear medicine technologists are expected to have increased. We hypothesize that
certified nuclear medicine technologists may experience higher risks of some
radiation-related cancers and other adverse health outcomes compared to most other medical
specialty groups. There is currently very little information about radiation-related risks
associated with performing these procedures due, in part, to limited information on
occupational doses associated with current nuclear medicine practices. To characterize
organ-specific doses that could later be used to quantify risks for specific
radiation-related disease outcomes, either directly (through subsequent follow-up) or
indirectly (through risk projection methods), we plan to collect detailed work history
information on nuclear medicine procedures and associated radiation safety practices, as well
as badge doses, for a representative sample of 1,500 technologists certified in nuclear
medicine in the U.S. This information will complement similar data collected in 2013-2014
from an independent sample of approximately 4,500 general radiologic technologists in the
U.S. Radiologic Technologists Study (USRT) who had reported working with these procedures.
However, unlike the USRT sample, the proposed sample is expected to be higher-risk, including
only those workers with a specialty certification in nuclear medicine who will have been
begun working with nuclear medicine procedures much earlier in their career, at ages
associated with greater susceptibility to radiation-related carcinogenesis.
century, with nuclear medicine technologists now potentially experiencing higher levels of
radiation exposure relative to other medical worker populations. Many radiopharmaceuticals
and procedures used in previous decades are now obsolete and are being replaced by new and
emerging radioisotopes and combined-modality and molecular imaging procedures. While
improvements in imaging technologies and the introduction of certain radioisotopes have
generally reduced patient exposure to radiation, nuclear medicine technologists have become
increasingly specialized in these newer procedures and are performing these and other nuclear
medicine procedures with increasing frequency. Furthermore, lead aprons are less effective in
protecting workers during nuclear medicine procedures, specifically higher-energy procedures
(e.g., positron emission tomography (PET)), compared to other radiation-related procedures,
and are seldom used by technologists performing nuclear medicine. As a result, cumulative
doses to nuclear medicine technologists are expected to have increased. We hypothesize that
certified nuclear medicine technologists may experience higher risks of some
radiation-related cancers and other adverse health outcomes compared to most other medical
specialty groups. There is currently very little information about radiation-related risks
associated with performing these procedures due, in part, to limited information on
occupational doses associated with current nuclear medicine practices. To characterize
organ-specific doses that could later be used to quantify risks for specific
radiation-related disease outcomes, either directly (through subsequent follow-up) or
indirectly (through risk projection methods), we plan to collect detailed work history
information on nuclear medicine procedures and associated radiation safety practices, as well
as badge doses, for a representative sample of 1,500 technologists certified in nuclear
medicine in the U.S. This information will complement similar data collected in 2013-2014
from an independent sample of approximately 4,500 general radiologic technologists in the
U.S. Radiologic Technologists Study (USRT) who had reported working with these procedures.
However, unlike the USRT sample, the proposed sample is expected to be higher-risk, including
only those workers with a specialty certification in nuclear medicine who will have been
begun working with nuclear medicine procedures much earlier in their career, at ages
associated with greater susceptibility to radiation-related carcinogenesis.
- ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA:
- Technologists from the target population of approximately 25,000 individuals who were
first certified in nuclear medicine technology in the U.S. after 1980, are currently
alive and residing in the U.S., and are not participants of the USRT study.
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Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455
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