Is your technetium generator eluate sterile?

Abstract

This study was performed to assess the sterility of multidose 99mTc generator eluate vials at the end of a working day.

Expired 99mTc generator eluate vials were collected over a period of 10 wk and stored until the activity reached background. Four batches of 10 vials each were selected randomly and sent to an independent microbiology laboratory for sterility testing.

No eluate showed any microbial growth after 14 d incubation in growth media.

Retrospective sterility testing of 99mTc generator eluate confirmed the validity of our departmental protocol for radiopharmaceutical preparation. Sterility testing has become part of our quality control program.