Administration of Radionuclides to Pregnant Women

Careful guidelines need to be followed while administering radionuclides to pregnant women.
• All female patients of child–bearing age should be screened for pregnancy before the radioparmaceutical is administered.
• If a patient is found to be pregnant, the need for the nuclear medicine procedure should be discussed with the referring physician. In each case, the merit of performing the test should be judged.
• Pregnancy is not an absolute contraindication to radionuclide studies and if the need arises, a reduced dose of radioparmaceutical may be administered thereby reducing the dose to the foetus. 

Guidelines for Administration of Radionuclides to Breast-feeding Women:
For nursing mothers, small quantities of radioactivity may also be present in the milk of breast feeding mothers and it is preferable that this not be given to the baby. Therefore, breast-feeding should be avoided, and the milk expressed and discarded, for a period of time that will be advised by the Department of Nuclear Medicine.