Karen J Kay, MLT, Supervisor - Histopathology and Cytology Laboratory, Chinook Regional Hospital, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada asks:
>>Does anyone have any information on the safety aspects of handling prostate >>tissue that has had radioactive seeds implanted once it is submitted for >>pathological examination? I am asking about all phases of the examination >>from gross room, embedding, microtomy, staining. I have done a search on the >>subject via the Archives and have only seen one reference to this issue which >>was a similar question posed by Peggy Wenk in 2009.<< I posted about this a couple of years ago - found my post in Histosearch using the search term "iridium". http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/htdig/histonet/2008-October/039840.html This post will give you the half-lives of the three radioisotopes commonly used. It's conventional to assume that radioactive material is hazardous until ten half-lives have gone by - about two years for the most commonly used isotopes. This is a question to pose to your hospital's radiation safety officer, if you can find him. Back in the days when procedure manuals functioned, I'd have wanted a written procedure for dealing with this situation. Yes, the "seeds" are potentially hazardous. I've posted a photograph I took of some of these "seeds" a few years ago at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobrichmond/5833004125/in/photostream Bob Richmond Samurai Pathologist Knoxville TN _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list [email protected] http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet
