# PET Scan

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-scan/699537>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 25, 2014, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-scan/699537 "2014-09-25T16:12:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dauerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c2a13f/32.png) [@dauerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dauerbach)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-scan/699537/1 "2014-09-25T16:12:13Z")

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Cannot find this information anywhere.

Generally, after a nuclear medicine procedure, it is advisable to quarantine a patients body fluids for 4 half-lives.

F18, the isotope used for pet scan, has a half life of just under two hours. Patients routinely undergo procedures immediately after a PET scan.

Is there any recommendation for any quarantine at all following PET scan?

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**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-scan/699537/2 "2014-09-25T23:01:32Z")

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Not really a big issue. This from NHS Choices:

> [@](#):
>
> Safety
> 
> Any exposure to radiation carries a very small risk of causing damage to tissues and the possibility of triggering a new cancer.
> 
> However, in a standard PET scan the amount of radiation you are exposed to is the same as the amount received from natural sources, such as the sun, over the course of three years.
> 
> Increasingly, PET scans are being combined with computerised tomography (CT) scans to provide more detailed images.
> 
> These new types of scanners, known as PET-CT scanners, use higher levels of radiation, which are equivalent to the recommended levels that someone working in a nuclear power plant should be exposed to over the course of a year. However, this dose is still well within the acceptable safety limits for radiation exposure.

They do also add this though: "\*Close contact with pregnant women, babies or young children should be avoided for a few hours after having a PET scan. \*  
[http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/PET-scan/Pages/Introduction.aspx](http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/PET-scan/Pages/Introduction.aspx)

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**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-scan/699537/3 "2014-09-25T23:05:03Z")

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As an anecdote, a friend of mine who was breastfeeding at the time of her PET (not a PET/CT) was told to pump and dump a couple of times before feeding again, and these are her quotes, supposedly from the nurse: “just to be on the safe side.”