Optimization of Skin Decontamination with 99mTc-MIBI Radioactive Contamination

LI Pei; WU Wenjing; ZHANG Jie; CUI Jing

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1004-437X.2025.15.005

Abstract：Objective To establish a skin contamination model with nuclear tracer 99mTc-methoxyisobutylisonitrile(99mTc-MIBI),evaluate the decontamination efficiency using different cleaning methods and different delayed cleaning time,to explore effective decontamination methods.Methods A radioactive nuclide contamination model was established by applying 99mTc-MIBI to the volunteer's skin.The model was cleaned with flowing water for 5 times,30 seconds each.The radioactivity was measured after each cleaning using a radiation detector,then calculated the decontamination efficiency to verify the stability of the contamination model.The decontamination efficiency of three cleaning methods[water,hand soap,and ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid(EDTA)]was compared.Additionally,the efficacy of hand soap decontamination was evaluated at different initiation times:immediately after contamination,after a 30-minute delay,and after a 1-hour delay.Results The skin contamination was(123.0±9.9)kBq·cm-2 with good model consistency.The decontamination efficiency gradually increased with the prolongation of water washing time.After 150 seconds of washing,the decontamination efficiency reached to(99.93±0.09)％,and the decontamination efficiency of hand soap and EDTA both reached to(99.99±0.01)％.There were no statistical difference among the three different groups for total decontamination efficiency(F=1.257,P=0.305),also no significant different among different cleaning groups at different time points(F=0.535,P=0.680).When using only water for immediate cleaning,delay 30 minutes and 1 hour to start clean,there was an overall statistical difference in the decontamination efficiency of the three groups(F=149.610,P＜0.001),among these three different groups at different time points,there was statistical difference in decontamination efficiency(F=92.416,P＜0.001).When using hand soap for immediate cleaning,delay of 30 minutes and delay of 1 hour for cleaning,there was an overall statistical difference in the decontamination efficiency of the three groups(F=67.714,P＜0.001),among these 3 different groups at different time points,there was statistical difference in decontamination efficiency(F=106.395,P＜0.001).There was significant difference between water group and hand soap group of delay 30 min(F=393.600,P＜0.001)and delay 1 h decontamination(F=1 006.000,P＜0.001).Conclusion Immediate and continuous running water flushing with or without hand soap can effectively decontaminate the skin radiation contamination caused by 99mTc-MIBI.Delay to deal with the contamination event will reduce the decontamination efficiency.The use of hand soap can lead to decontamination more effective,especially for delayed decontamination.EDTA has a decontamination effect comparable to hand soaps,but with a risk of skin damage.