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Radiation warning for shoppers and travellers7 August 2006 Patients having radiation therapy are being warned they may trigger alarms in some shops and airports. According to a new report published in the British Medical Journal, patients could be inadvertently setting off sensitive radiation equipment at banks and airports because they are still temporarily radioactive after having radioisotope therapy. Radioisotope therapy involves having an injection or swallowing the radioisotope (eg radioactive iodine, Iodine-131). This accumulates in the thyroid gland before circulating the body in the bloodstream. Around 80 percent of the radioisotope is then excreted. Radioisotope therapy is widely used in the treatment of thyroid disease and is also used in diagnostic procedures such as bone scans. But the authors of the report claim that doctors are not doing enough to warn patients that they could set off alarms several weeks after having their treatment. Patients who have had Iodine-131 therapy should be especially careful because they could set alarms off up to 95 days after they have been treated. The report follows a recent case in which a patient who had undergone radioisotope therapy set off an airport sensor six weeks later. He was detained and searched. The authors advise that better advice is given to patients about the risk of setting off alarms after radiation therapy. More information
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