Tc99m -- A Medical Isotope

Описание: Tc99m -- A Medical Isotope
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Recently, my Father In-Law has heart troubles and had an amazing and revolutionary medical procedure performed on him. Since that time he has had to undergo several injections radioactive tracer's to observe his blood flow. The isotope (actually an isomer) used was Technetium 99m (Tc99m). Tc99m is a "meta-stable" variant of the Tc99. That's what the little "m" on the end of the name is supped to mean.

Tc99m originates from the decay of Molybdenum 99, Mo99, which is created in reactors around the world for medical benefit. Mo99 is shipped to hospitals (those trucks you see with a nuclear logo on their backs often carry this isotope). The Mo99 is placed into a unit through which a solution is passed "milking" the Tc99m from the Mo99.

In a short time, Tc99m decays to Tc99. In fact, for a given quantity of Tc99m, only half will exist in six more hours. This means the halflife of Tc99m is about 6 hours. Patiants are quickly injected and receive a dose of perhaps 9,400 uSv (940 mrem), (Radiation Exposure from Medical Exams, Jan. 2012). The interesting question is how much the rest of us are exposed to whilst being around people with injections.





Radiation Exposure from Medical Exams and Procedures. (January, 2012). Health Physics Society. Accessed online at http://hps.org/documents/Medical_Expo...