Incorrect Use of Rubidium Generators Used for PET Imaging Prompts a Reminder From the FDA

摘要

On April 29th, 2019, the FDA issued a statement intended to remind sites that use Rubidium-82 radionuclide generators of the importance of proper elution practices following recently reported incidents in which misuse resulted in medication errors (Anonymous). Rubidium-82 is a short-lived radioactive isotope that is used in myocardial perfusion studies using a PET-CT scanner; however, because the Rubidium has such a short half-life, it must be produced immediately before injection using a radionuclide generator, which contains a much longer-lived "parent" radionuclide that undergoes a nuclear transformation producing the short-lived Rubidium-82. At any point in time, the generator contains quantities of both the "parent" radionuclide (Strontium-82) as well as the "progeny" (Rubidium-82) so an elution process is used in the PET-CT suite to extract the Rubidium-82 from the generator with minimal Strontium contamination to produce a patient injection.