Comparison of different methods for radiochemical purity testing of [99mTc-EDDA-HYNIC-D-Phe1,Tyr3]-Octreotide

[99mTc-EDDA-HYNIC-D-Phe1,Tyr3]-octreotide (99mTc-EDDA-HYNIC-TOC) is an alternative radioligand for somatostatin receptor (SSTR) scintigraphy of neuroendocrine tumours. In order to allow a rapid and accurate determination of the quality in the clinical routine the aim of this study was to evaluate different methods of radiochemical purity (RCP) testing. Three different methods of RCP testing were compared: high-performance liquid chromatograhpy (HPLC), thin layer chromatography (TLC) and minicolumn (Sep-Pak purification=SPE). HPLC was shown to be the most effective method for the quality control. The use of TLC and SPE is only recommended after sufficient practical labelling experience.