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Continuous Radionuclide Generation. I. Production and Evaluation of a ^81mKr Minigenerator

Veterans Administration Hospital, Hines, Illinois
Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois

Correspondence: For reprints contact: Ervin Kaplan, Nuclear Medicine Service, Veterans Administration Hospital, Hines, Ill. 60141.

ABSTRACT

An improved generator has been devised as a prototype for clinical use which will provide continuous production of ^81mKr. Delivery of ^81mKr can be in liquid or gaseous state. Preparation of parent radionuclide and design of the generator and delivery system emphasizes a decreased contamination with the parent radionuclide and severe miniaturization of the generator and delivery system. Elution is by an injectable isotonic solution.

Rubidium-81, the parent radionuclide which has a half-life of 4.7 hr, is produced on the Argonne 60-in. cyclotron by alpha-irradiation of cuprous bromide on a copper target mounted over an aluminum base. Following activation, the copper and bromide ions are removed. The purified residual ⁸¹Rb is dissolved in distilled water and transferred to the generator. The generating column is housed inside the cylindrical hub of a stainless steel connector in a space measuring 2.5 mm in diameter and 22 mm in height. The generator is shielded by 4 in. of lead. Fifty to 100 mCi of ⁸¹Rb are routinely produced and trapped on Dowex 50 resin which is sandwiched between two layers of inert filtering material. The ^81mKr may be eluted by distilled water, 5% dextrose in distilled water, or by air.

The ^81mKr has a half-life of 13 sec. It emits a monoenergetic 190-keV gamma ray produced by isomeric transition. Similar levels of ^81mKr activity are delivered by gaseous or liquid elution by a constant-volume infusion pump. The ^81mKr may be continuously delivered for many hours through a polyethylene catheter.

FOOTNOTES

^* Current address: Michael Reese Hospital, Chicago, Illinois.