John
We designed a special purpose I-131 patient room in a Med/Surg unit that is part of the Hospital's Nuc Med program. They inject a low-dose radioactive seed in the patient at a specific site and image the area
throughout the patient's stay of a few weeks. The imaging is done with a portable C-Arm. The Hospital's physicist recommended lead shielding for the dividing walls between this room and the next. The lead shielding was quite robust, mainly due to the radioactive seed plus the acuity of adjacent patients and not so much because of the C-Arm itself. In this same Hospital we anticipated the use of that same type of C-Arm in Endo procedure rooms where the physicist did not require any shielding. The factors at play in determining shielding are the imaging equipment that will be used; the design of the space - its shape and openings; the adjacent uses beside, above and below; along with the construction materials and details of the walls and floors separating the area where imaging will be done.
In direct answer to your question - I am not aware of a location where some forethought and pre-planning would not preceed the use of imaging equipment.
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David Gardner AIA ACHA NCARB
Principal
Gardner PLUS Architects, PLLC
Rochester NY
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