Very short half life, to avoid radiation and cancer, around ±6 hoursz
Radionuclide bone scan. The patient has received an intravenous injection of a 99mTc-labelled bone-scanning agent The increased uptake in the femur in this patient was due to Paget’s disease
- • The radioactive isotopes used in diagnostic imaging emit gamma-rays as they decay.
- • The radioisotopes used in medical diagnosis are artificially produced and most have short half lives, usually a few hours or days.
- • Technetium-99m (99mTc) is readily prepared, has a convenient half life of 6 hours and emits gamma-radiation of a suitable energy for easy detection.
- •Other radionuclides that are used include indium-111, gallium-67, iodine-123 and thallium-201.
Made for diagnosis of: bodily functions rather than anatomy
