# Radiation safety at home after lutetium-177 PSMA or dotatate therapy

Source: https://onco.cc/protocols/lutetium-177-therapy-home-radiation-safety/  
OnCo record `lutetium-177-therapy-home-radiation-safety` (Protocol). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

After a lutetium-177 treatment your body gives off a small amount of radiation for some days, and most of the radioactivity leaves in your urine. For a short time you are asked to keep some distance from others, especially children and anyone pregnant, to sleep apart, to be careful with the toilet and washing, and to drink plenty. Your team will give you written instructions with the exact days.

## Summary

Release follows national law: the EANM/SNMMI 2023 guideline notes that up to 48 to 72 hours of ward isolation may be needed to reach a local discharge threshold, and that where outpatient treatment is allowed the patient should stay about 2 hours to be monitored, hydrated and to pass urine first. In the United States 10 CFR 35.75 allows release where no other person is likely to receive more than 5 mSv, with written instructions where anyone could receive more than 1 mSv. Precautions: drink more for 3 to 4 days and void often (EANM/SNMMI; both US labels); rigorous toilet hygiene, a double flush and hand washing, with particular care in the first 2 days and against soiling for a week (IAEA/EANM/SNMMI 2013 for PRRT); catheterise incontinent patients and keep the catheter for 2 days (IAEA 2013), and EANM/SNMMI suggests considering a catheter. The Pluvicto label gives the most specific contact limits after each dose: under 3 feet from others for 2 days and from children and pregnant women for 7 days, no sexual activity for 7 days, and separate sleeping for 3, 7 and 15 days (others, children, pregnant women). The Lutathera label gives no day counts and notes radioactivity in urine for up to 30 days. Contraception figures differ by source: Pluvicto men 14 weeks after the last dose; Lutathera women 7 months and men 4 months, no breastfeeding for 2.5 months; EANM/SNMMI 3 months for PSMA; IAEA 2013 at least 6 months avoiding pregnancy for women after PRRT. A medical emergency is never delayed for radiation reasons.

## Fields

- Kind: Protocol
- Last checked: 2026-11-11
- Also known as: Pluvicto radiation precautions; Lutathera radiation precautions; 177Lu-PSMA home precautions; PRRT home precautions; radioligand therapy precautions; after lutetium treatment at home; radiation safety after radionuclide therapy

## Connected records

- cancers: [Neuroendocrine tumours](https://onco.cc/cancers/neuroendocrine/), [Prostate cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/prostate/)
- technologies: [Lutetium-177 radioligand therapy](https://onco.cc/technologies/lu177-radioligand-therapy/)
- drugs: [Lutetium-177 dotatate](https://onco.cc/drugs/lutathera/), [Lutetium-177 vipivotide tetraxetan](https://onco.cc/drugs/pluvicto/)
- terms: [Castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC)](https://onco.cc/terms/castration-resistance/)
- ideas: [One aligned table of contraception and breastfeeding intervals after lutetium-177 therapy](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-pu-lutetium-177-family-planning-table/)
- protocols: [Radiation safety at home after radioactive iodine (I-131) for thyroid cancer](https://onco.cc/protocols/radioiodine-therapy-home-radiation-safety/), [Release of patients after radionuclide therapy or a permanent implant: criteria, instructions and records](https://onco.cc/protocols/radionuclide-therapy-patient-release-criteria/)

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