New nuclear medicine survey
 An estimated 680,000 nuclear medicine procedures were performed in the UK in 2003/4, a 58 per cent increase over the number in 1989/90, the last time the national nuclear medicine survey was conducted,
Bone and lung scans remain the two most frequent procedures but myocardial scans are now in third place. The radiation dose given to patients per procedure has remained substantially unchanged and adheres closely to national recommendations. The annual collective radiation dose to the UK population from all diagnostic nuclear medicine procedures has risen to about 1600 man Sv (equivalent to about 0.03 mSv per head) but is still only about 7 per cent of that from all medical x-ray imaging procedures.
The imaging techniques of SPECT and PET currently contribute 33 per cent and 6 per cent respectively of the population dose from nuclear medicine procedures. However, PET is increasing rapidly as more scanners become available in the UK. Being a relatively high-dose procedure, it will probably lead to further increases in the population dose from nuclear medicine in the future.
The survey is published by the Radiation Protection Division of the Health Protection Agency. Click here to download a copy.
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