Development and long-term evaluation of a new 68Ge/68Ga generator based on nano-SnO2 for PET imaging
Eduardo Romero, Alfonso Martínez, Marta Oteo, Marta Ibáñez, Mirentxu Santos, Miguel A. Morcillo
Abstract
Abstract Radionuclide generator systems can routinely provide radionuclides on demand such as 68 Ga produced by a 68 Ge/ 68 Ga generator without the availability of an on-site accelerator or a research reactor. Thus, in this work nano-SnO 2 was used to develop a new 68 Ge/ 68 Ga generator which was evaluated over a period of 17 months and 305 elution cycles. The elution yield was 91.1 ± 1.8% in the first 7 mL (1 M HCl as eluent) when the generator was new and then it decreased with time and use to 73.8 ± 1.9%. Around 80% of the elutable 68 Ga activity was obtained in 1 mL and the 68 Ge content in the eluate did not exceed 1 × 10 –4 % over the investigation period when it was eluted regularly. The described generator provided adequate results for radiolabelling of DOTA-TOC with direct use of eluate. In addition, [ 68 Ga]Ga-DOTA-TOC was tested satisfactorily for in vivo tumor detection by microPET/CT imaging in a lung cancer mouse model.