Measurement of Radiation Exposure Resulting from Using an Automated, Solvent-Extraction-Type, Technetium Generator

Radiation monitoring of the fingers and torso during loading and "milking " of an automated solvent-ex-traction-type 99mTc generator showed that technologists received higher exposures than when using the more conventional elution-type generators. The wide range of exposure doses that were measured during various procedures indicated that continual emphasis on good practice would result in a significant reduction in the ac-cumulated radiation exposure dose. The Nuclear Medicine Service of the VA Hospital in Long Beach, Calif., decided to evaluate the in-lab performance of a commercially available (MEKTEC-99, IMAJ International Inc.) 99mTc generator which was based on an automated solvent-extraction method using methyl ethyl ketone (MEK). The generator typ