Rubidium-82

This isotope undergoes rapid uptake by myocardiocytes, which makes it a valuable tool for identifying myocardial ischemia in Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging.

[4] Myocardial tomograms, recorded at rest and after exercise in the volunteers showed homogeneous uptake in reproducible and repeatable scans.

The generator contains accelerator produced 82Sr adsorbed on stannic oxide in a lead-shielded column and provides a means for obtaining sterile nonpyrogenic solutions of rubidium chloride (halide salt form capable of injection).

Its radioactivity is increased in viable myocardial cells reflecting cellular retention, while the tracer is cleared rapidly from necrotic or infarcted tissue.

82Rb is capable of producing a clear perfusion image similar to single photon emission computed tomography(SPECT)-MPI because it is an extractable tracer.

82Rb myocardial blood flow quantification is expected to improve the detection of multivessel coronary heart disease.

82Rb/PET can be used to quantify the myocardial flow reserve in the ventricles which then allows the medical professional to make an accurate diagnosis and prognosis of the patient.

[10] Recently it has been shown that neuroendocrine tumor metastasis can be imaged with 82Rb due to its ability to quantify myocardial blood flow (MBF) during rest and pharmacological stress, commonly performed with adenosine.

This isotope is available after 10-minute elution of a 82Sr column; this makes it possible to produce enough samples to inject about 10–15 patients a day.

Another limitation of this isotope is that it needs a dedicated PET/CT camera, and in places like Europe where a 82Sr/82Rb generator is still yet to be approved that can be hard to find.