The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will hold public hearings in Washington, DC; Los Angeles; and Houston over the next several weeks on radiation safety in healthcare, including outpatient treatment of patients with thyroid cancer.
At issue is whether there is any threat to the public from these patients after they are treated with radioactive iodine and released from the hospital.
The issue came to the fore on October 20 following the release of a report by a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee that chronicled multiple examples of treated patients being released from the hospital while still giving off radioactivity. The report attributed the incidents to a change in NRC policy in 1997 that enabled hospitals to perform radioactive iodine treatments previously performed on an inpatient basis to an outpatient basis.
Opponents of the current NRC policy, including U.S. Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA), assert that the public may be exposed to radiation from these patients after they are treated and released. They are asking the NRC to change its regulations so that fewer patients are able to be treated with radioactive iodine without hospitalization.
SNM of Reston, VA, believes the current NRC regulations protect the public and benefit patients with thyroid cancer. SNM has procedure guidelines for therapy of thyroid disease with radioactive iodine, as well as written instructions for patients, which provide information about reducing radiation exposure to the public.
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VA responds to NRC report on brachytherapy violations, January 18, 2010
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