Radiology, Vol 131, 525-526, Copyright © 1979 by Radiological Society of North America
Cardiac imaging with tantalum-178
BL Holman, RD Neirinckx, S Treves and DE Tow
Tantalum-178 is a potential tracer for the first transit studies of the
heart. It has a short physical half-life (9.3 minutes) and is obtained as a
generator product from its long-lived (21.3 days) parent, tungsten- 178.
First transit studies were performed in the monkey and dog following the
intravenous injection of 20 mCi (740 MBq) of tantalum- 178. Imaging was
performed with a large field of view single crystal camera and a
multicrystal camera. Pulmonary dilution curves were derived for the
analysis of left-to-right intracardiac shunting and high temporal
resolution studies were obtained to assess left ventricular function and to
measure left ventricular ejection fraction. The short physical half-life of
tantalum-178 permits fraction. The short physical half-life of tantalum-178
permits multiple sequential studies with reduced patient radiation dose
compared to the current radionuclide of choice, technetium-99m.
