Patients administered I-131 as a part of medical therapy will frequently stay in a hotel during their isolation period to avoid exposing family members. However, dosimetric estimates to hotel workers handling potentially contaminated bed linens due to I-131 radionuclide therapy has not been considered.
In the scope of Foreman’s work, calculations of external dose rate coefficients were conducted for hotel housekeepers handling bed linens used by potentially contaminated by patients administered I-131. Detailed simulations consider both the tissue and material attenuation of radiation through the use of anthropomorphic phantoms, as well as considering the biokinetic body burden to determine the time-dependent excretion of I-131 from the patient’s body.
Foreman graduated with his B.S. in Nuclear Engineering and minor in Radiological Health in Spring 2019 from TAMU and is currently pursuing his DMP in Medical Physics at UT Health – San Antonio.
