99Tcm-dimercaptopropionyl-HSA prepared from a labelling kit: preliminary investigations as a blood pool agent.

The blood retention of 99Tcm-dimercaptopropionyl human serum albumin (99Tcm-DMP-HSA), prepared from a kit, was compared with that of five other 99Tcm-labelled blood pool tracers in two healthy volunteers. 99Tcm-DMP-HSA showed an almost identical behaviour to in vitro labelled red blood cells (RBCs), which are generally considered the reference standard for blood pool agents. The mean apparent blood mass of 99Tcm-DMP-HSA was 2.1% higher 10 min post-injection (p.i.) than that of in vitro 99Tcm-RBCs, 2.0% higher 30 min p.i., 4.7% higher 60 min p.i. and 2.3% higher 120 min p.i. In vivo labelling of RBCs yielded a labelling efficiency of 75-98%, depending on the stannous agent used. About 20 min after pertechnetate administration, the intravascular activity as a percentage of injected dose stabilized at levels close to that of in vitro labelled RBCs. One commercially available 99Tcm-HSA kit was found to be unsuitable as a blood pool tracer. As 99Tcm-DMP-HSA offers the same practical advantages as 99Tcm-HSA, but better biological characteristics, it shows promise as a new tracer for radionuclide ventriculography and further large-scale investigations are warranted.