Extravascular Administration in Diagnostic and Therapeutic Nuclear Medicine

In nuclear medicine, diagnostic as well as therapeutic, radiopharmaceuticals are administered via an intravenous injection, in a majority of the procedures in a blood vessel at the crook of the arm or on the back of the hand. Occasionally, the injection fails, which results in the radiopharmaceutical ending up extravascularly. The consequence of this may be a locally high radiation dose at the injection site, in some situations high enough to cause severe tissue effects on the patient. Thus, it is important to recognize the problem and identify the cause in order to decrease the risk. Furthermore, the management of the situation after such an extravasation must be dealt with thoroughly and this has been the subject of lively debate in recent years. The parameters that have an impact on the radiation dose are among other things, the physical properties of the radionuclide, as well as the activity and volume of the radioactive substance retained in the surroundings of the blood vessel. In the case when most of the administered activity ends up extravascular, the quality of the diagnostic procedure or the effect of the treatment are negatively affected, which must be addressed.

The aim of this webinar is to highlight the risk and consequences of extravascular administration of radiopharmaceuticals as well as the management of the situation after an extravasation.

Physicists, Physicians, Technologists, Nurses