U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Apparent Unauthorized Use of Byproduct Material, Resurrection Hospital, Chicago, Illinois

HPPOS-156 PDR-9111220130

Title: Apparent Unauthorized Use of Byproduct Material,

Resurrection Hospital, Chicago, Illinois

See the memorandum from L. B. Higginbotham to J. M. Allan

dated August 14, 1975. If a licensee administers a

radiopharmaceutical for an authorized procedure, it may

conduct additional unauthorized procedures, provided that

additional administrations are not given. HPPOS-313

contains a related topic.

An interpretation of what constitutes a venogram in nuclear

medicine was sought. A venogram is defined as blood vein

imaging that includes both blood pool imaging and blood

flow studies. For all practical purposes, these two

studies are inseparable; that is, blood pool images will

also define the rate of blood flow depending on the

presence of embolisms in the venous system being imaged.

Such embolisms could include blood clots in the veins.

Venous imaging is usually necessary to evaluate the outcome

of lung scans and is commonly used in conjunction with lung

scans.

If a licensee administers a radiopharmaceutical for a

license-authorized procedure, it may conduct any number of

additional procedures whether they are authorized or not

provided that additional administrations are not performed

for purposes of the unauthorized procedure (although

additional administrations may be needed for the authorized

procedure). The basis for the above is that once a dose is

administered to a patient for a procedure that is

authorized, no additional harm from radioactive materials

can result to the patient during the conduct of other

medical procedures. Of course, administering a dose solely

for an unauthorized procedure is in noncompliance with NRC

regulatory requirements.

The above interpretation has the concurrence of OELD and

DBER.

Regulatory references: License Conditions

Subject codes: 3.8

Applicability: Byproduct Material