Radioactive after FDG injection????

You are right to be concerned. However, If your friend sits 2 meters away from you after the injection of FDG, their dose will be greatly reduced. The FDG does have a half life of 2 hours (well, 110 minutes) and the dose will be half decayed after 2 hours. But-- you also excrete the FDG in your urine. So more than half of it is gone from your body after 2 hours, if you urinate. I just checked a patient last week 2 hours after her FDG injection, and she was giving off a little radiation, but not a lot more than background. You do want to be careful around pregnant women, because it's always better to be safe than sorry. Children and fetal tissue are more sensitive to radiation (because their cells are dividing faster than older people's.)

Do you know how much FDG you are getting? The dose can range from 10-20 millicuries, which gives a bystander a much different dose.

Hope this helps.

Please do drink a lot of water after your scan. FDG is taken up by your cells, but it is then metabolized and excreted. If you ask to look at your scan after it is taken, you will see a "hot spot" where the bladder is, if urine has collected there.

The woman who was adamant about not letting another person in with you was probably being overzealous. Like the person earlier said, you must weigh the risk against the benefit.

Good luck! Ask your facility; they probably have a radiation safety officer (as I am) who can help answer your questions.

[Chelee]

When I have a PET/CT I'm told nobody is allowed back there with me and they are adamant about it! No talking, reading, nothing. I really put some pressure on them to see if I could at least read a book if I didn't move? The answer was no. I thought they were kidding but they weren't.

So after I change clothes & get comfy in my chair they will give me a blanket to stay warm. Then once I get the injection they turn off the lights in this room and tell me they will be back to get me in about 1 hr. So I usually nod off since I'm not allowed to anything. Once the PET/CT is done they have never told me to stay away from kids or adults. The only thing they have told me each and every time is to drink plenty of water as they are handing me a bottle. It's interesting how these places are so different.

Chelee