Presented by Jiaying Wu
Masters Candidate in Biostatistics
Plan B Adviser: Dr. Ashley Petersen

Radiopharmaceutical therapy has been used for years. However, radioactive contamination of patients’ treatment rooms remains a concern because contamination can expose healthcare workers to radioactive components, posing a potential health risk, and increase the difficulty of decontaminating the rooms. The objectives of this study were to characterize the distribution of room contamination during treatments (Aim 1), evaluate associations between participant-specific characteristics and floor contamination (Aim 2), and develop a predictive model for risk of room contamination (Aim 3).

For Aim 1, 57 room contamination surveys were analyzed. Contamination was concentrated around the toilet, bed, and pathway between these locations, indicating that contamination was not uniformly distributed throughout treatment rooms. For Aims 2 and 3, 110 participants contributing 212 treatment sessions were included. Floor contamination occurred during 94 (44%) treatment sessions. In the mixed-effects model analysis, age showed the strongest evidence of association with floor contamination, with the odds of contamination increasing by approximately 17% for every 5-year increase in age (odds ratio = 1.17, 95% confidence interval: 0.99-1.37), although this association was not statistically significant (p = 0.059). No statistically significant associations were identified for sex, body mass index, diabetes, multiple chronic diseases, race, or treatment cycle. The LASSO model did not retain any predictors, indicating that the available participant-specific determinants were insufficient for accurately predicting floor contamination. An age-only logistic regression model indicated limited predictive performance (area under the curve = 0.58).

Overall, contamination during treatments occurred most frequently around the toilet, bed, and pathway connecting these locations. Participant demographic and clinical characteristics alone were insufficient to accurately explain or predict floor contamination. These findings support focusing room preparation and contamination-control efforts on high-risk locations. It also suggested that future prediction models should include additional treatment-related, behavioral, and environmental factors.gene