Miniaturized Radiochemical Purity Testing for ^99mTc-HMPAO, ^99mTc-HMDP, and ^99mTc-Tetrofosmin

Quick methods are functional in clinical practice to ensure the fastest availability of radiopharmaceuticals. For this purpose, we investigated the radiochemical purity of the widely used ^99mTc-hydroxymethylene diphosphonate, ^99mTc-hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime, and ^99mTc-tetrofosmin by reducing time as compared with the manufacturer's method. Methods: We applied a miniaturized chromatographic method with a reduced strip development from 18 cm to 9 cm for all 3 radiopharmaceuticals. The specific support medium and solvent system of the manufacturer's methods was kept unchanged for ^99mTc-hydroxymethylene diphosphonate and ^99mTc-tetrofosmin, whereas for ^99mTc-hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime the instant thin-layer chromatography (ITLC) polysilicic gel (silicic acid [SA]) was replaced with a monosilicic gel (silicic gel [SG]) in the chromatographic system that uses methyl ethyl ketone as solvent. The method was applied and compared with the routine ITLC insert method in a total of 30 batches for each radiopharmaceutical. The precision of repeated tests was determined by comparison with the results of 10 replications on the same batch. Small volumes of concentrated ^99mTcO₄^-, and ^99mTc-albumin nanocolloid were used to produce potential radiochemical impurities. Correlation between the quick methods and the insert methods was analyzed using a nonparametric 2-tailed test and a 2 × 2 contingency table with the associated Fisher exact test to evaluate sensitivity and specificity. A receiver-operating-characteristic analysis was performed to evaluate the best cutoff. Results: The percentage radiochemical purity of the quick methods agreed with the standard chromatography procedures. We found that ^99mTcO₄ and colloidal impurities are not the only common radiochemical impurities with ^99mTc-tetrofosmin, and shortening of the ITLC strip with respect to the manufacturer's method will worsen system resolution and may produce inaccuracy. Conclusion: The miniaturized methods we described represent a fast and reliable alternative for ^99mTc-exametazime and ^99mTc-oxidronate quality control, with the upper cutoff for acceptable radiochemical purity values being 84% and 95%, respectively. For ^99mTc-tetrofosmin radiochemical purity testing, a longer strip as described in the standard method is warranted.