Assessment of the direct cyclotron production of 99mTc: An approach to crisis management of 99mTc shortage

• The cross section and proton project range were simulated using the computer codes.
• Newly designed and manufactured shuttle and canister target system.
• Optimization of the production conditions such as beam and target characteristics.

Nowadays, the cyclotron production of technetium-99m (99mTc) has been increased, due to the worldwide 99mTc generator shortage. In the present work, an improved strategy for the production of 99mTc, using the proton irradiation of the enriched 100Mo was developed. The performance of this method in terms of the production yield, chemical purity, radiochemical purity, as well as radionuclide purity was evaluated. The average production yield was measured to be 356 MBq μA−1 h−1. A good agreement was found between the calculated production yield and the experimental one. The radiochemical separation and total recovery yields of 99mTc were 92% and 69%, respectively. The radiochemical and the radionuclide purities of the 99mTc were 99% and >99.99% at the end of purification, respectively. The results of quality control tests (QC) support the concept that cyclotron-produced 99mTc is suitable for preparation of USP-compliant.