DMSA procedure

[KittyConCarne]

DD1 (7) is due to have a DMSA procedure on Thursday, to look at her kidney issues.

I rung the hospital yesterday afternoon to check about the timings for the numbing cream for the injection, and as a passing comment the nurse mentioned about keeping DD1 away from DD2 (22months) for 36-48 hours after the injection. The nurse said "Oh they can be sat in the same room obviously, but no touching/ hugging/ kissing etc".

I was quite taken aback as there has been no mention of keeping DD1 in isolation in all the hospital literature we've received.

I didn't think to clarify if that also means staying off school for an additional day (DD1's class is doing some project work with the attached school nursery, plus one of DD1's classmates is immuno compromised).
I've tried ringing the hospital back again today, but so far the lines are constantly busy.

Just wondered if anyone has had any experience of a child's DMSA and could advise what they were told?

Bump :)

My dd has had a few of these. The only precaution we were told was if I, the mum, were pregnant then someone else would need to take her for the scan. Seems like the advice you were given is total overkill. The amount of radiation left in the child's body is extremely minimal and no harm to anyone I wouldn't think. Certainly didn't need to keep her away from other children or babies.

We had one and weren’t told to keep her away from other babies - for one we were on a ward full of children!!
I was told to wear gloves to change her nappies though for a day or two after

Maybe mention to your dd’s teacher that can your dd be kept an eye on and kept apart a bit and someone wash her hands after the loo with her to check washed properly?

Nurse must have meant bodily fluids? So no kissing etc which would tie with the nappy advice I was given (although I did continue to breastfeed the baby after!)

We definitely didn't get that advice, they only said to drink lots of water to flush her system out asap

Oh, thanks for the replies!

Just to update, the scan went really well and the staff were all lovely- really put DD1 at ease.
They brought a paediatric nurse up from children's ward to do the injection (where we were in Nuclear Medicine), and I asked her if she had heard of the guidance. She pretty much confirmed what the nurse had told me on the phone- they advise minimal contact with any under 5's for 24-36 hours after the injection. She said "to be mindful of time and distance", so "DD1 & DD2 cuddled up for an hour watching a dvd on sofa was a no-no, but playing seperately for an hour at opposite ends of living room should be fine".

She also re-iterated the same guidance in the letter about drinking loads (any liquid), and toiletting lots to flush through system, plus thorough hand-washing. I mentioned I was surprised the sibling contact advice wasn't on the guidance letter, but she didn't comment or seem surprised.

The scan took the best part of an hour to get their 5 pictures (was surprised it took 7 minutes to get each shot- DD1 was quite happy to lie perfectly still, but I can imagine it would be near impossible with a wriggly toddler!), and I also vaguely mentioned the sibling contact issue with the radiographer. He said its standard advice, but that the radiation levels halve every 6 hours from the injection time, so 24 hours should be perfectly safe to resume normal contact.

Didn't get home til 4.30pm after a 9am start, so managed to keep younger DDs mostly seperated with dinner/ baths etc, although I'm inclined to think that really my hospital has an overkill policy on this, especially as you've all said that you weren't given this advice yourselves.

No worries though- just glad DD1 had a positive experience, and now hoping the consultant can review the scan data quickly so we know what we're dealing with. Thanks for the advice everyone :)