Medical strontium/rubidium-82 generator for positron emission tomography.

Medical rubidium-82 generator

The rubidium-82 generator is designed to produce short-lived radionuclide rubidium-82 (half-life 1.3 minutes). This radionuclide is injected into the patient's bloodstream and the blood flow is analyzed using positron emission tomography (PET). The method is most effective for non-contact study of myocardial perfusion in the diagnosis and prognosis of patients with suspected coronary artery disease. The use of a rubidium-82 generator allows for the assessment of myocardial perfusion with high sensitivity. The rubidium-82 generator can also be used to study the functions of the brain, gastrointestinal tract, liver and kidneys.

Advantages of using a rubidium-82 generator:

a) provides higher image accuracy than when using isotopes of common radionuclides thallium-201, technetium-99m;

b) allows for the diagnosis of diseases of the coronary vessels of the heart and the choice of treatment strategies for the disease at an early stage. The radionuclide rubidium-82 can be used as a quantitative marker of necrosis or viability of myocardial tissue;

c) reduces the time of sequential image reproduction when examining a patient; allows sequential scanning of the organ under study every 10 minutes;

d) minimizes the radiation dose received by the patient during examination;

e) allows various medical organizations to conduct clinical PET studies without the need to have expensive cyclotrons.

Rubidium-82 is a radiopharmaceutical for positron emission tomography, produced in a generator from the parent radionuclide strontium-82. Strontium-82 radionuclide (half-life 25 days) in the form of its chloride is located inside the generator in the generator column on a special sorbent. The isotope of rubidium-82 in the form of its chloride is isolated from the generator by eluting an isotonic sodium chloride solution through it. In this case, the parent radionuclide strontium-82 remains on the sorbent inside the generator. The production of the initial radionuclide strontium-82 can only be carried out using unique high-precision medium-energy accelerators. INR RAS is the only place in Europe and Asia where strontium-82 is actually produced in large quantities. An installation of this type at the INR RAS is the largest in the world.

Currently, the rubidium-82 generator is not produced in Europe or Asia. The generator can be used in any medical institution equipped with a positron emission tomograph, both in Russia and abroad throughout Eurasia. Similar generators are currently produced only in the USA and Canada and are not exported.

The parameters of the radiopharmaceutical drug - eluate from the proposed rubidium-82 generator (yield of rubidium-82, breakthrough of radionuclides strontium-82 and impurity strontium-85, sterility and pyrogen-freeness), as well as the characteristics of the generator meet all currently existing requirements for products and preparations of this kind type. This is ensured by advanced generator manufacturing technology.

Project Manager: