Is Sodium Phosphate P 32 safe while breastfeeding?
Here is what LactMed, the Drugs and Lactation Database published by the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), reports about Sodium Phosphate P 32. The text below is quoted from that source — it is not our own verdict.
Summary of use during breastfeeding
Information in this record refers to the use of sodium phosphate P 32 as a therapeutic agent. No information is available on the use of sodium phosphate P 32 during breastfeeding. The European Association of Nuclear Medicine recommends using other modalities to treat polycythemia vera and essential thrombocytopenia in patients under 60 to 65 years of age and states that the drug is contraindicated in nursing mothers.[1] If a nursing mother is given sodium phosphate P 32 systemically, breastfeeding should be discontinued permanently for this child.
Effects on the breastfed infant
Relevant published information was not found as of the revision date.
Effects on milk supply
Relevant published information was not found as of the revision date.
Levels in milk
Phosphorus P 32 decays by beta emission with an energy of 1.709 MeV and a half-life of 14.3 days. Radioactivity declines with an effective half-life of 11 days after injection of sodium phosphate P 32.[2]
Maternal Levels. A mother was given 37 MBq of phosphorus P 32 intravenously for diagnosis of a malignant tumor in the eye. Two breastmilk samples were collected, one a few hours after the injection and another on the following day. The first milk sample contained 0.005% of the injected radioactivity per liter and the second day's milk contained 0.016% of the injected radioactivity per liter.[2]
Infant Levels. Relevant published information was not found as of the revision date.
“No published information” means the studies do not exist yet — not that Sodium Phosphate P 32 is known to be harmful, and not that it is known to be safe. Your prescriber or pharmacist can weigh your baby's age and whether a better-studied alternative would do the same job. Worth asking before stopping a medicine you need.
Source: Drugs and Lactation Database (LactMed), National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), via NCBI Bookshelf, record “Sodium Phosphate P 32” (LM1137). LactMed on NCBI Bookshelf. LactMed is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Educational summary of an authoritative source — not medical advice. Never start, stop, or change a medicine while breastfeeding without confirming with your doctor.