Technetium-99m generator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Technetium-99m generator
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A technetium-99m generator, or colloquially a technetium cow or moly cow, is a device used to extract the metastable isotope 99mTc of technetium from a source of decaying molybdenum-99. 99Mo has a half-life of 66 hours[1] and can be easily transported over long distances to hospitals where its decay product technetium-99m (with a half-life of only 6 hours, inconvenient for transport) is extracted and used for a variety of nuclear medicine diagnostic procedures, where its short half-life is very useful.

Contents
1 Parent isotope source 2 Generator function and mechanism 3 References 4 External links
Five Technetium-99m-Generators

Parent isotope source

Mo can be obtained by the neutron activation (n, reaction) of 98Mo in a high neutron flux reactor. However, the most frequently used method requires a uranium target with high enriched uranium-235 (up to 90% 235 U), they have not yet found a way to use low enriched uranium (less than 20% 235 U).[2] The target is irradiated with neutrons to form 99Mo as a fission product [1] (http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/rp/factsheets/factsheets-pdf/ fs32mo99.pdf) . Molybdenum-99 is then separated from other fission products in a hot cell.[2] (http://www.rertr.anl.gov/MO99/JLS.pdf)
99

Generator function and mechanism

The half-life of the parent nuclide (99Mo) is much longer than that of the daughter nuclide (99mTc). 50% of equilibrium activity is reached within one daughter half-life, 75% within two daughter half-lives. Hence, removing the daughter nuclide (elution process) from the generator ("milking" the cow) is reasonably done as often as every 6 hours in a 99Mo/99mTc generator. Most commercial 99Mo/99mTc generators use column chromatography, in which 99Mo in the form of molybdate, MoO4 2- is adsorbed onto acid alumina

saline solution through the column of immobilized 99Mo elutes the soluble 99mTc, resulting in a saline solution containing the 99mTc as the pertechnetate, with sodium as the counterbalancing cation.

(Al2 O3 ). When the Mo-99 decays it forms pertechnetate TcO 4 -, which because of its single charge is less tightly bound to the alumina. Pulling normal

The solution of sodium pertechnetate may then be added in an appropriate concentration to the organ-specific pharmaceutical tobeused , orsodium 99m TcO 4 - as the primary pertechnetatebeused can directly without pharmaceutical forspecific rocedures tagging p requiringnlythe o

radiopharmaceutical. A large percentage of the 99mTc generated by a 99Mo/99mTc generator is produced in the first 3 parent half-lives, or approximately one week. Hence, clinical nuclear medicine units purchase at least one such generator per week or order several in a staggered fashion.

References
1. ^ R. Nave. "Technetium-99m" (http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/nuclear/technetium.html) . HyperPhysics (Georgia State University). http:// hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/nuclear/technetium.html. 2. ^ Frank N. Von Hippel, Laura H. Kahn (December 2006). "Feasibility of Eliminating the Use of Highly Enriched Uranium in the Production of Medical Radioisotopes" (http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a769414426~db=all) . Science & Global Security 14 (2 & 3): 151162. doi:10.1080/08929880600993071 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080%2F08929880600993071) . http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a769414426~db=all. Retrieved 2010-03-26.

External links
Brookhaven National Laboratory site on the history of the technetium cow. (http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/history/Tc-99m.asp) Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Technetium-99m_generator&oldid=479427563" Categories: Radiopharmaceuticals Radioactivity Technetium Medical physics This page was last modified on 29 February 2012 at 06:10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technetium-99m_generator 4/7/2012 8:29:43 AM

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