Research

Monitoring of people and workers exposure to the electric, magnetic and electromagnetic fields in an Italian national cancer Institute

Anna Maria Di Nallo^{* 1} , Lidia Strigari^{* 1} , Claudia Giliberti^{* 2} , Angelico Bedini^{* 2} , Raffaele Palomba^{* 2} and Marcello Benassi^{* 1}

¹Laboratorio di Fisica Medica e Sistemi Esperti Regina Elena National Cancer Institute, Rome, Italy

²Dipartimento Insediamenti Produttivi ed Interazione con l'Ambiente Italian National Institute for Health and Safety at Work, Rome, Italy

author email corresponding author email* Contributed equally

Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research 2008, 27:16doi:10.1186/1756-9966-27-16

Published:	3 July 2008

Abstract

Background

The paper reports the electric, magnetic and electromagnetic fields (emf) measurements carried out in the Regina Elena National Cancer Institute (NCI). Several devices, used in diagnostics and in medical cures, can represent sources of emf for the workers and for the public subjected to the treatments. The aim is to evaluate their exposition, in order to assess the compliance with the law.

Methods

The investigations have been carried out in the departments of: intensive care, physiotherapy, MR presstherapy and in the surgical rooms. The measurements have been performed using broad band probes in the frequency ranges 5 Hz÷30 kHz and 100 kHz-3 GHz.

Results

The variability of the magnetic induction (B(μT)) levels is between 0,05 μT and 80 μT. The statistical distribution shows that most of the measurements are in the range 0,05<B = 0,5 μT and the 89% of the B(μT) levels are within the 3 μT.

Conclusion

The measurement of the emf levels in the NCI is recommended because of the presence of the oncological patients; their long stay near the equipments and their day-long exposure represent additional risk factors for which a prudent avoidance strategy have to de adopted.