Quality control of 99mTc-radiopharmaceuticals. Evaluation of GCS minicolumns in routine clinical work with scintillation cameras.

Gel chromatography columnm scanning (GCS) is a rapid and reliable method for the quality control of 99mTc-radiopharmaceuticals. With this method the labelled compound and various impurities such as free pertechnetate, hydrolyzed reduced technetium or other 99mTc-complexes are obtained in one testing procedure. Using minicolumns results can be obtained with a simple testing procedure within a few minutes after the sample is taken; this is significant in routine radiopharmaceutical work. The resolution of the recording system is important, so as to be able to utilize fully the good separation ability of the minicolumn. Minicolumns were studied with some commonly used radiopharmaceuticals. A scintillation camera was used to record minicolumn data under various conditions and the results were conpared to those obtained using a scanner to reveal optimal recording conditions for the scintillation camera.