[Radioactivity levels of the air inhaled by personnel of a radioiodine therapy unit].

The mean activity concentration of 131I during inhalation by the nuclear medicine personnel was measured at therapeutic activity applications of 22 GBq (600 mCi) per week. The activity concentration reached its maximum in the exhaled air of the patients 2.5 to 4 hours after oral application. The normalized maximum was between 2 X 10(-5) and 2 X 10(-3) Bq X m-3 per administered Bq. The mean activity concentration of 131I inhaled by the personnel was 28 to 1300 Bq X m-3 (0.8 to 35 nCi X m-3). From this the 131I uptake per year was estimated to be 30 to 400 kBq/a (mean = 250, SD = 50%). The maximum permitted uptake from air per year is, according to the German and Austrian radiation protection ordinances 22/21 microCi/a (= 8 X 10(5) Bq/a). At maximum 50% and, on the average, 30% of this threshold value are reached. The length of stay of the personnel in the patient rooms is already now limited to such an extent that 10% of the maximum permissible whole-body dose for external radiation is not exceeded. Therefore, increased attention should be paid also to radiation exposure by inhalation.