Patient exposure to ionising radiation due to nuclear medicine cardiac procedures

Abstract

Nuclear cardiology procedures are among the most extensivelyperformed radionuclide studies. Procedures for the assessmentof myocardial perfusion, contractile function and metabolismhave gained a prominent position in clinical practice. Healthrisk to patients from radiopharmaceuticals results only fromexposure to ionizing radiation. Nuclear medicine diagnostic procedures,including the cardiological ones, are accompanied bya very small risk of radiation induced malignant tumours. Deathrisk from stress and rest perfusion of myocardium (effective doseof about10 mSv) could be estimated as lower than 0.1 per mille.