Post-elution concentration of 188Re by an electrochemical method

High specific activity 188Re required for nuclear medicine is mostly obtained from 188W/188Re generators. As the parent radionuclide 188W is of low specific activity (<185 GBq/g), a relatively large volume of 0.9% saline is required for the elution of 188Re. Post-elution concentration is needed in order to increase the radioactive concentration of the eluted 188Re. An electrochemical procedure to concentrate 188Re suitable for the preparation of radiopharmaceuticals is developed. 188Re eluted from an alumina generator could be concentrated ∼100 fold, and it could be used to label DMSA and HEDP with >98% yield.