Nuclear Medicine Clarification Act of 2025
This bill requires the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to revise its regulations so that health care providers must report to the NRC when a dose of a radioactive drug caused by an extravasation exceeds specified quantities. An extravasation generally means the unintentional presence of a radioactive drug in the tissue surrounding the blood vessel following an injection.
Under the NRC’s current regulations, health care providers licensed by the NRC to use radioactive materials must submit a report to the NRC for any instance, known as a medical event, where the administered dose of a radioactive drug exceeds specified quantities or criteria.
In 2024, the NRC published a draft proposed rule that would add an extravasation as a medical event that must be reported. The draft proposed rule’s reporting threshold is based on a physician’s determination that the administration results or may potentially result in a radiation injury from an extravasation. The reporting threshold proposed by the NRC does not contain a quantified dose.
The bill requires the NRC to revise its regulations to add an extravasation as a medical event that must be reported, and it additionally requires the reporting threshold to be based on quantified doses (as specified in the bill).