Rapid quality control of technetium-99m-tetrofosmin: Comparison of miniaturized and standard chromatography systems

Objective: In this paper, we evaluate the use of miniaturized ITLC-SG strips (10 cm x 1 cm) with the same solvent system of methylene chloride:acetone (65:35) to reduce the time required to perform the quality control procedure for ^99mTc-tetrofosmin. The potential problems inherent in the standard chromatography system were investigated as to the magnitude of their effects on the miniaturized system. Methods: The migration of the radiochemical components of ^99mTc-tetrofosmin was evaluated using multiple miniature and standard strip sizes. Following optimization of the miniaturized system, radiochemical purity evaluations were performed simultaneously on 112 ^99mTc-tetrofosmin preparations using both chromatography systems and the radiochemical purity results compared. Results: Initially, similar migration of radiochemical components was found using both chromatography systems. Results of the radiochemical purity evaluations of ^99mTc-tetrofosmin preparations were similar with both chromatography methods, with a mean difference of 1.3% ± 1.5%. Differences in radiochemical purity results between the two chromatography systems were less than 2% in the majority of samples. In no instance was a preparation acceptable with one chromatography system and not acceptable with the other. Conclusion: The results indicate that the miniaturized chromatography system is as effective in evaluating the radiochemical purity of ^99mTc-tetrofosmin as the standard quality control procedure, with a substantial reduction in the time required to perform the procedure.