Legislation You Should Know: Radioactive IV’s, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Nuclear Clarification Act

The Facilitating Innovative Nuclear Diagnostics (FIND) Act was established to expand patient access to nuclear diagnostic medicine. Many patient advocacy groups and nonprofits are in support of increased access to this type of care, however, advocacy groups are working to draw attention to an important issue that the FIND Act does not address. Soon advocates will visit Capitol Hill to encourage representatives to support the Nuclear Medicine Clarification Act of 2023 (HR 6815).

Here’s what you should know:

• Nearly 30 million injections of diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals are administered in the US.
• An estimated five million of those administrations are extravasated. What does that mean? In simple terms, the radioactive fluid leaks beyond the injection site into the patient's body.
• These leaks can not only compromise the diagnostic imaging, but they can cause permanent tissue damage and even a risk of secondary cancer.
• Currently, clinicians are not required to report an extravasation to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and they are not required to report the incident to the patient. Ironically, though, if the radioactive drug is inadvertently spilled onto a patient outside the body and exceeds an objective radiation dose level, that incident must be reported to NRC.

The Nuclear Clarification Act of 2023 ensures extravasations are treated no differently than any other accidental exposure and it provides hospitals 18 months to improve their processes.