Technetium-99m decays by a process called isomeric transition , a process in which 99mTc decays to 99Tc via the release of gamma rays and low energy electrons. Since there is no high energy beta emission the radiation dose to the patient is low.
What are the products of technetium 99 decay?
Technetium-99 ( 99 Tc) is an isotope of technetium which decays with a half-life of 211,000 years to stable ruthenium-99 , emitting beta particles, but no gamma rays.
What does technetium decay into?
Technetium’s most stable isotope, technetium-98, has a half-life of about 4,200,000 years. It decays into ruthenium-98 through beta decay.
How does Tc 99m leave the body?
Once in the human body, Tc-99 concentrates in the thyroid gland and the gastrointestinal tract. However, the body constantly gets rid of Tc-99 in feces .
What happens to technetium 99m after it decays?
Tc decays mainly by gamma emission , slightly less than 88% of the time. ( 99m Tc → 99 Tc + γ) About 98.6% of these gamma decays result in 140.5 keV gamma rays and the remaining 1.4% are to gammas of a slightly higher energy at 142.6 keV.
Why is Tc 99 used in medicine?
Tc-99m is the preferred tracer for a number of scans used in medicine worldwide to help diagnose medical conditions. Tc-99m scans are used to detect a wide range of conditions including injuries, infections, tumours, heart disease, thyroid abnormalities, kidney conditions and also to guide some cancer procedures.
Why is Tc 99 used in medical diagnostics?
Five parts of technetium per million will protect carbon steels from corrosion at room temperature. Tc-99m is used in medical therapy in brain, bone, liver, spleen, kidney, and thyroid scanning and for blood flow studies. Tc-99m is the radioisotope most widely used as a tracer for medical diagnosis .
What are the risks of TC 99?
- Blurred vision.
- chest pain or discomfort.
- confusion.
- dizziness, faintness, or lightheadedness when getting up suddenly from a lying or sitting position.
- fainting.
- fast, slow, or irregular heartbeat.
- hives, itching, or redness.
- lightheadedness.
Is TC 99 stable?
Technetium-99 is not a stable isotope . As technetium-99 decays, it releases beta particles and eventually forms a stable nucleus.
Why is technetium-99 a good tracer?
Tc-99 m is ideal as a medical tracer because the gamma radiation it emits allows the medical practitioner to image internal body organs causing hardly any radiation damage to the patient . ... Approximately 85% of diagnostic imaging procedures in nuclear medicine use this isotope.
How does technetium 99m enter the body?
The 66 hours molybdenum radioactive half-life give enough time to transport it to hospitals and to extract chemically technetium 99m. The radioisotople placed in a radiopharmaceutical serum is then injected into the patient, which allows gamma camera scans providing accurate pictures of the patient’s body.
Is it possible to transmute all the technetium 99?
Technetium-99 is the most abundant element (810 g per tonne of uranium (TU) in nuclear fuel) and the most important one to transmute. ... Technetium is able to capture neutrons effectively under certain conditions , so the transmutation of this fission product is feasible, if not economical, in specialised reactors.
How does Mo 99 decay?
Mo-99 decays by emitting a beta particle (an electron) . About 88 percent of the decays (red line) produce Tc-99m, which subsequently decays to the ground state, Tc-99g, by emitting a gamma ray.
What are the benefits of technetium 99m?
The principal benefit of this radioactive substance is its long half life . 6 hours is long enough for various medical examinations to be done. Also, it is short enough for the 99m Tc to be eliminated from the system without causing any harm. The radiation dose to the patient remains low because 99m Tc emits gamma-ray.
What is technetium Tc 99m Sestamibi used for?
Technetium 99m sestamibi (MIBI), also known as 99m Tc-methoxy isobutyl isonitrile, is a radiopharmaceutical used to evaluate pathology within the cardiac, breast, and parathyroid tissues . Sestamibi is part of the radioactive diagnostic agents class of medications, characterized as a lipophilic cationic radiotracer.
Why is element 43 unstable?
Technetium is a radioactive element, with no stable isotopes. With an atomic number of 43, it is the lightest unstable element . ... The short answer is that there is no number of neutrons you can put in a technetium atom to form a stable nucleus. The atomic nucleus consists of protons and neutrons.
