Population radiation absorbed dose from nuclear medicine procedures in The Netherlands.

The mean radiation absorbed dose per patient and for the whole population per caput per year in the Netherlands from diagnostic nuclear medicine procedures has been estimated using patient data from 10 large hospitals during either 1984 or 1985. The mean effective dose equivalent and the mean gonad dose equivalent per patient were 2.7 mSv and 1.7 mSv, respectively. Extrapolating these figures to all diagnostic nuclear medicine procedures in the Netherlands, the mean effective dose equivalent and the mean gonad dose equivalent per caput per year were 0.037 mSv and 0.024 mSv, respectively.