Local preparation, standardization and quality control of technetium labelled macroaggregated albumin for lung perfusion studies.

Lung perfusion study is an important investigation in various pulmonary diseases. The radiopharmaceutical commonly used now-a- days is imported macroaggregated human albumin (in kit form), which is labelled with technetium (Tc99m-MAA). Due to its high cost the technique could not be fully exploited. We have tried to locally prepare freeze dried MAA particles. Various parameters like concentration of protein, pH value, temperature, quality and quantity of reducing agents were studied to find out the optimum conditions for radiolabelling and the desired particle size. More than 98% of the added radioactivity was found tagged to the MAA particles in the final preparation (confirmed by paper chromatography). Labelled agent was found to be radiochemically stable for up to 6 hours. Initial animal and later human studies showed an ideal spectrum of particle size.