Accidental Cs-137 contamination

Widespread use of radionuclides in medicine and industry poses the possibility of radiation accidents. We describe such an occurrence involving three industrial workers. The accident resulted from careless handling of a Cs-137 source. Evaluation of the Cs-137 whole body burden was carried out using stationary and scanning whole body counters. In addition, regional and whole body activity from contamination was assessed using an uncollimated gamma camera. This report emphasizes the value of the gamma camera for detection of radionuclide contamination in radiation accidents.