| Nuclear Regulatory Commission
staff will meet with representatives of a Washington, D.C., hospital on Wednesday,
February 20, to discuss several apparent violations of NRC regulations related
to the use of a specific type of nuclear medicine at the facility.
The meeting, known as a predecisional enforcement conference, pertains
to Providence Hospital, which is located at 1150 Varnum Street in Washington,
D.C. It is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. in the Public Meeting Room at the
NRC Region I Office in King of Prussia, Pa., and will be open to the public
for observation.
Based on an inspection conducted last year, the NRC has identified apparent
violations involving Providence Hospital's strontium-90 eye applicator program,
under which radiation is used to treat eye abnormalities. Specifically, the
NRC has determined there were the following apparent failures: 1.) the hospital's
Radiation Safety Committee did not oversee the use of licensed material through
an annual review of the radiation safety program; 2.) final treatment plans
and related calculations were not verified to ensure they were consistent
with written directives prepared prior to treatments; 3.) any unintended deviations
from the written directives were not identified and evaluated; and 4.) annual
audits of the quality management program for the strontium-90 eye treatments
were not conducted in 1998, 1999 and 2000.
According to calculations made by the NRC – and subsequently confirmed
by the hospital – a total of 14 strontium-90 eye applicator treatments
administered between August 1996 and October 2000 exceeded prescribed radiation
doses by more than 20 percent and are therefore considered misadministrations.
However, a medical consultant hired by the NRC concluded the patients involved
did not suffer any adverse effects as a result of the misadministrations.
The decision to hold a predecisional enforcement conference does not mean
that the NRC has determined that any violations occurred or that enforcement
action will be taken. Rather, the purpose of the meeting is to gather information
to assist the NRC in making an enforcement decision.
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