Unit dose radiochemical stability of commonly used technetium-99m radiopharmaceuticals

The use of radiopharmaceuticals as unit doses that may be prepared several hours before injection prompted this analysis of the radiochemical purity of radiopharmaceuticals held in plastic syringes versus glass vials. Four of the five radiopharmaceuticals studied maintained > 90% binding up to and in some cases exceeded the manufacturer's stated expiration time in both plastic and glass containers. In all cases the radiochemical purity was higher in the glass vial than the plastic syringe for up to 24 hr after preparation