Angiocardiography with iridium-191m: an ultrashort-lived radionuclide (T1/2 4.9 sec).

Iridium-191m is a potential tracer for angiocardiography and may be of particular value in the evaluation of heart disease in children. It possesses a short half-life (4.9 sec), suitable photon energy (129 keV) and may be obtained as a generator product by decay of its long lived (15.3 day) parent 191 Os. An 191Os leads to 191mIr generator capable of providing 15 mCi of 191mIr in 1.5 ml of eluant is described. The separation of 191mIr from 191Os is achieved by absorbing 191OsC16-2 on an anion exchange resin. The generator employs an additional resin column which is replaced to prevent 191Os breakthrough to become excessive. By this procedure, the breakthrough may be kept below 0.001% over a period of at least one month and after multiple elutions.