Radionuclide generator can supply a medical radionuclide in very high specific activity, often a very important concern in modern radiopharmaceutical formulation. It can also be designed to supply the radionuclide in a chemical form that is practically useful in the pharmacy or clinic.
Radionuclide generators have played a major role in the diagnostic nuclear medicine. Various radionuclide generators are in clinical use, particularly, Mo-99/Tc-99m generator. The major part of the radioactive generated in a nuclear medicine laboratory is of Tc-99m, followed by and Ge-68/Ga-68. An account of the available for clinical use and the regulatory challenges are discussed in an article by Knapp, Jr., and Pillai, et al, 2014). In nuclear medicine procedures, target-specific radiopharmaceutical is introduced to the body, the emissions from the radionuclides are detected and transformed into images which can be seen by the expert doctors to facilitate diagnosis. Radionuclides such as Tc-99m, I-131, I-125, P-32, Lu-177, F-18 are produced and used in the medical applications. Radiological protection of the staff is controlled and kept as low as reasonably achievable. Patient dose is optimised for protection of the patient.
