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They have become the second most common cancer of the gastrointestinal tract. There are several types of NETs, but most occur throughout the gastrointestinal tract and lungs. What are Neuroendocrine Tumors? Neuroendocrine Tumors (NETs) are a group of uncommon tumors. Gallium-68 dotatate (NETSPOT) is a new FDA-approved radiopharmaceutical test that makes Neuroendocrine Tumors visible on medical images for the purpose of accurate diagnosis and tracking. This scan helps accurately locate and characterize tumors in adult patients with somatostatin-receptor positive Neuroendocrine Tumors (NETs).
#Ga 68 netspot generator#
With NETSPOT the preparation of the Ga-68 DOTATATE is immediate once the Ga-68 has been acquired from the generator and mixed with the reagent.What is NETSPOT (Gallium-68)? NETSPOT is the first Gallium-68 injection, a radioactive diagnostic agent for PET/CT imaging. However, new kits such as "NETSPOT" for more rapidly preparing Ga-68 edotreotide or DOTATATE from Ga-68 (III) ions have increased the flexibility of sourcing of this radiopharmaceutical for Ga-68 endocrine receptor (octreotide) scans. This fact required that these radiopharmaceuticals be made on-site in most cases, and the on-site generator is required to minimize the time losses. With generators of tin dioxide and titanium dioxide-based adsorbents, there once remained more than an hour of pharmaceutical preparation to attach the gallium-68 (III) as a tracer to the pharmaceutical molecules DOTATOC or DOTA-TATE, so that the total preparation time for the resulting radiopharmaceutical is typically longer than the 68Ga isotope half-life. The mobile phase is a solvent able to elute (wash out) gallium-68 (III) ( 68Ga 3+) after it has been produced by electron capture decay from the immobilized (absorbed) germanium-68.Ĭurrently, such 68Ga (III) is easily eluted with a few mL of 0.05 M, 0.1 M or 1.0 M hydrochloric acid from generators using metal-free tin dioxide or titanium dioxide adsorbents, respectively, within 1 to 2 minutes. The use of metal-free columns allows direct labeling of 68Ga without prepurification, hence making production of gallium-68-radiolabeled compounds more convenient. The stationary phase is either metal-free or alumina, TiO 2 or SnO 2, onto which germanium-68 is adsorbed. When loaded with the parent isotope germanium-68, these generators function similarly to technetium-99m generators, in both cases using a process similar to ion chromatography. This reaction is: 69Ga(p,2n) 68Ge.Ī Russian source produces germanium-68 from accelerator-produced helium ion (alpha) irradiation of zinc-66, again after knockout of two neutrons, in the nuclear reaction 66Zn(α,2n) 68Ge.
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At Brookhaven National Laboratories, 40 MeV proton irradiation of a gallium metal target produces germanium-68 by proton capture and double neutron knockout, from gallium-69 (the most common of two stable isotopes of gallium).
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In the U.S., it is primarily produced in proton accelerators: At Los Alamos National Laboratory, it may be separated out as a product of proton capture, after proton irradiation of Nb-encapsulated gallium metal. The parent isotope germanium-68 is the longest-lived (271 days) of the radioisotopes of germanium. 3 Indications for gallium-68 PET scanning.
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