Radiant energy – Fluent material containment – support or transfer means – With irradiating source or radiating fluent material
Patent
1980-11-24
1983-06-07
Smith, Alfred E.
Radiant energy
Fluent material containment, support or transfer means
With irradiating source or radiating fluent material
141DIG2, G21G 104
Patent
active
043873030
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates generally to radioisotope generators and, more specifically, to radioisotope generators containing means for interrupting an elution process being conducted in the generator.
Radioisotope generators are apparatuses used in obtaining a solution of a daughter radioisotope such as technetium-99 m from an adsorbed parent radioiotope such as molybdenum-99 which produces the daughter radioisotope upon radioactive decay. The solution of the daughter radioisotope may be used by the medical profession for diagnostic purposes.
Conventionally, radioisotope generators include a column containing the parent radioisotope adsorbed on a carrier material such as an anion exchange medium or other medium such as alumina which has high adsorptive capacity for the parent radioisotope but a low adsorptive capacity for the daughter radioisotope. To obtain the desired daughter radioisotope, the column is eluted by washing with a suitable solvent or eluant such as a sterile saline solution. The resulting eluate containing the daughter radioisotope in the form of a dissolved salt is useful as a diagnostic agent, for example, and is adapted for intravenous administration.
To obtain a quantity of the eluate from the generator in a simple and safe manner, a vessel containing a quantity of eluant can be connected to the inflow side of the column and an evacuated elution vial connected to the outflow side of the column at a tapping point on the generator. The vacuum in the evacuated vial draws the eluant from the vessel, through the column and into the vial thereby eluting the daughter radioisotope from the column.
These evacuated eluation vials are generally surrounded by a lead shield for safety purposes and further include a label and a sealing assembly comprising a rubber stopper and flanged metal cap. The rubber stopper allows the vial to be connected at the tapping point of the generator by piercing with a needle contained in the tapping point. The vials may have, for example, standard volumes of about 10, 15 or 23 ml. For certain purposes, smaller volumes are necessary and therefore, sets of elution vials are often used. For example, sets having standard elution volumes of 23, 15, 4.8 and 3.0 ml; 15, 10 and 5 ml; or of 10 and 5 ml have been used. With the smaller vials, a fractionated elution can be conducted so that a higher concentration of daughter radioisotope in the eluate can be obtained. Such a high radioisotope concentration is required, for example, for bolus injections.
However, the use of a set of elution vials of various standard volumes with a radioisotope generator has significant disadvantages associated therewith. For example, up to four different types of vials as well as their associated labels, rubber stoppers, flanged metal caps and lead shields must be kept in stock. For shipping, packaging must be adapted to the different dimensions of the vials. Moreover, upon completion of an elution in the radioisotope generator, the vial is always entirely filled with liquid so that drawing of the eluate from the vial by an injection syringe is impeded. Finally, with regard to the volume of the eluate and hence the level of the concentration of the daughter radioisotope, there are only restricted choices, for example, two, three or four possibilities. As a consequence, a radioisotope generator system in which a set of elution vials is used has limited flexibility in terms of elution volume and radioisotope concentration.
In order to avoid the above-mentioned disadvantages, it has been proposed that a standard elution vial having a relatively large volume be also used for collecting smaller quantities of eluate, for example, 10 or 15 ml. To collect a smaller quantity of eluate in such a large standard vial, the elution process in interrupted before the vial is completely filled by withdrawing the vacuum vial from the tapping point of the generator. As a consequence, the vacuum within the elution vial is dissipated. A significant disadvantage of this method is that non-sterile air is drawn int
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Byk-Mallinckrodt CIL B.V.
Fields Carolyn E.
Smith Alfred E.
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