Nuclear Medicine thyroid scan...worried about radiation exposure

[Tmnt3660]

Hello, I had a scan in Nuc. Medicine whereby radioactive material was injected into my arm.  The tech claimed that there was less radiation than a plain x-ray.  Can you confirm or deny that the danger is truley less than that of a simple chest x-ray?

Also, I remember her telling me to "let her know" if when I urinated after the injected, if I dribbled any urine on my skin by accident, and I forgot to tell her that I did accidentily dribbled some urine on one of my hands and a bit down my pants leg that also came in contact with the skin of my leg.  It wasn't a LOT but it was definately noticeable.

Did she want me to "let her know" for any particular reason?  

I seek an honest, blunt answer here -

1) Am I even remotely possibly in any danger from the urine contacting my skin after that injection of radiation?  

2) Is the amount of radiation truley less dangerous than that of a plain x-ray (or was that less than a CT scan?)


Thank you very much, and keep up the good work.

[Mark Lupo, M.D.]

In this situation, there is no concern about the nuc med test causing leukemia....don't worry about it.

[Tmnt3660]

This test was 3 months ago and I haven't had any dermatological symptoms yet.   For some reason I was a bit worried that it may soak into your skin and cause leukemia or something.  I guess i am being paranoid?

[Mark Lupo, M.D.]

The scan was probably done with Technetium 99m  -- very small amount of radiation even if some dribbled on the skin, I would not worry about it -- certainly less than a CT in terms of RAD exposure and probably less than a plain x-ray as well.

A bigger concern is patients treated with high dose I-131 (very different from your case) who are incontinent of urine.....this may lead to significant skin irritation in that area.