Radio-UHPLC: a tool for rapidly determining the radiochemical purity of technetium-99m radiopharmaceuticals?

Determining the radiochemical purity (RCP) of technetium-99m ((99m)Tc) radiopharmaceuticals using the method described in the package insert is a time-consuming process, requiring particular attention in order to achieve accurate RCP results. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether radio-ultra high performance liquid chromatography (radio-UHPLC) may be an alternative method for RCP testing of (99m)Tc-tetrofosmin, (99m)Tc-MAG3 and (99m)Tc-sestamibi. Results obtained using radio-UHPLC were in excellent agreement with the standard method, with total analysis time being reduced to less than 3 min.