FDG PET/CT Clinical Trial
Official title:
Radiation Exposure Awareness From Patients Undergoing Nuclear Medicine Diagnostic 99mTc-MDP Bone Scans and 18F-FDG PET/CT Scans
This questionnaire is aimed at finding out if patients understand how much radiation they are
being exposed to when they have a bone scan (99mTc-MDP)or an FDG PET/CT scan (18F-FDG
PET/CT). This questionnaire is also interested in understanding if patients consider current
leaflet information sent with appointment letter as sufficient to understand what the
radiation dose from that scan is.
By collecting information on how much patients are aware and understand about radiation
exposure, we can use this information to develop better guidance for medical staff who advise
patients as well as clearer information leaflets for patients to assist in their
understanding.
Nuclear medicine uses ionizing radiation in order to diagnose and treat diseases and the
different types of scans and therapies use different amounts and types of radiation which
result in different exposures. For example in the UK the average natural background radiation
levels is around 2.2 mSv and a Chest X-ray is about 0.014 mSv, which is equivalent to
approximately 2.5 days of natural background radiation in the UK.
When undergoing clinical nuclear medicine scans such as 99mTC-MDP bone scans and 18F-FDG
PET/CT scans, two of the most common procedures within nuclear medicine the current
information made available to patients from clinicians and current information leaflets for
both procedures may not be detailed enough to enable patients to understand about radiation
exposure and make an informed decision to undergo the procedures.
With bone scans accounting for 27% of all conventional nuclear medicine procedures and
18F-FDG PET/CT scans accounting for 78% of total number of PET/CT procedures across the trust
and similarly across the majority of nuclear medicine departments in England, this
questionnaire aims to capture current knowledge and awareness of patients in terms of
radiation exposure when they are referred for a nuclear medicine scan, their views on the
current appropriateness of leaflets provided and how would they would prefer to receive that
information.
This information will be used to potentially educate the medical staff on the need to
correctly inform the patient with regards to radiation exposure; to standardize the
information that is given to patients and to potentially design new information leaflets and
request forms.
The current trust leaflets across all nuclear medicine procedures involving an injection of
radiopharmaceutical have the same explanation under "Is there any risk from the radiation?
The amount of radiation involved is small and similar to the amount used in some x-ray
procedures." When in actual fact the exposure from a bone scan is around 4 mSv and the
exposure from an 18F-FDG PET/CT is around 14 mSv which is significantly differently.
This is a cross sectional questionnaire study aimed at gaining a greater understanding of the
patient perception and awareness of radiation exposure when undertaking a nuclear medicine
99mTc-MDP bone scan or 18F- FDG PET/CT scan.
Upon completion, patients will be given the fourth sheet of the cover letter with answers to
questions on section 3. If patients have additional questions pertinent to the radiation
exposure comparators they will be directed to the section on the cover letter where they can
find more information regarding this subject. As appropriate questions will also be directed
to the Principal Investigator who is Head of Radiation Protection at current Trust.
;
| Status | Clinical Trial | Phase | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Completed |
NCT04441489 -
Assessment of Lung Inflammation With FDG PET/CT in COVID-19
|