Cationic complexes of technetium for myocardial imaging

Over the past 15 years a major goal of research in cardiovascular nuclear medicine has been the development of 99mTc complexes that could replace 201Tl and thus enhance the utility of myocardial perfusion imaging. This paper presents an overview of the current state-of-art of the development of cationic 99mTc complexes for this purpose. Cationic 99mTc complexes that have been evaluated as myocardial perfusion imaging agents in human volunteers and/or animals are discussed and classified on the basis of the oxidation state of the technetium center.