Trends in radiopharmaceutical dispensing in a regional nuclear pharmacy.

Dispensing trends for radiopharmaceuticals at a regional nuclear pharmacy over a 51-month period were studied. dispensing records of a regional nuclear pharmacy were analyzed with a forecasting procedure that uses univariate time data to produce time trends and autoregressive models. The overall number of prescriptions increased from 3500 to 5500 per quarter. Radiopharmaceuticals used in nuclear cardiology studies increased from less than 0.1% to 17.5% of total prescriptions dispensed, while radiopharmaceuticals used for brain imaging showed a steady decline from 29% to 11% of total prescriptions dispensed. The demand for other radiopharmaceuticals increased in areas such as renal studies, bone studies, lung studies, liver-function studies, and Ga-67 tumor-uptake studies, and declined slightly for static liver studies. Changes in dispensing trends for radiopharmaceuticals will continue as the practice of nuclear medicine concentrates more on functional studies and as newer imaging techniques become used for other purposes.