Is Technetium-99m dead or still alive? An outlook to recent developments with specialfocus on myocardial perfusion imaging

• Main Author: Adriano Duatti
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centro de Gestión de la Información y Desarrollo de la Energía (CUBAENERGIA) 2012-07-01
• Series: Nucleus
• Subjects: miocardio, tecnecio 99, órganos perfundidos, radiofármacos, medicina nuclear, tomografía de emisión computarizada de fotón único
• Online Access: http://nucleus.cubaenergia.cu/index.php/nucleus/article/view/571

Despite the advances associated with the introduction of PET technology, reasons to consider that SPECT, particularly with radiopharmaceuticals will continue playing an important role in Nuclear Medicine, are presented. The details examined are the following ones. An improvement of the technology SPECT is appreciated with the development of new detection systems and the advantages of the appearance of the hybrid systems SPECT / TAC. The biggest half-life of the main SPECT radionuclides like and in comparison with PET radionuclides, facilitates its transportation at larger distances, allow the realization of studies with radiopharmaceuticals with different radionuclides in the same patient, and the possibility of the detection of lesions of low tracer accumulation. Finally the main base core for complex formation with different ligands are reviewed, as a background that assure the appearance of new radiopharmaceuticals of practical interest. The oncological and cardiological potential applications are examined with emphasis in these last ones. It is clear that radiopharmacy will continue playing an important role in nuclear medicine.