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Selection of Accessory Materials

Preparation of the working area

Sterile starting materials and sterile equipment (such as syringes) must also be used for the preparation and aseptic working techniques should be applied. This means that the walls and working area of the LAF cabinet must be disinfected before the start of the preparation, e.g. with a 70 % ethanol solution. Before this is done, it may be necessary to switch on and adjust the air flow in the cabinet to the required level and clear the cabinet of any materials left from previous preparations, disposing of items in the appropriate waste bins. See Radioactive Waste Management for further details.

Selection of accessory materials

As all equipment and materials used must be sterile, the rubber closures of the vials to be used should also be disinfected with disinfecting swabs.

As radioactive solutions have to be manipulated for the preparation of a 99mTc-radiopharmaceutical, adequate shielding materials must be used to protect the person preparing the radiopharmaceutical, such as a syringe shield and a lead shield for the vials that contain radioactive solutions. Moreover, the radioactive source must be handled using tongs or forceps in order to increase the distance between the hands of the person preparing the radiopharmaceutical and the radioactive source.

The rubber closures disinfected with disinfecting swab

It is also necessary to cover the working area of the LAF cabinet with an absorbing material (usually sterile absorbing paper) when radioactive materials in liquid form are being manipulated, in order to avoid contaminating the working area with spilled radioactive materials.

Watch a video of a Radiopharmacist preparing the LAF cabinet and selecting the appropriate accessory materials.

The preparation of ^99mTc-MDP requires the withdrawal of a calculated volume of eluate from the eluate vial, its dilution to the required volume with sterile saline solution (a solution containing 9 g/l of sodium chloride) and the addition of this diluted solution of ^99mTc in the form of pertechnetate to an MDP labelling kit. This procedure is explained in detail in Radiolabelling with ^99mTc and calculation of doses.

Therefore, accessory materials which must be present in the LAF cabinet before the start of the preparation of a ^99mTc-MDP preparation are:

• two 10 ml sterile syringes in their protective wrapping (one of them is a spare syringe that, exceptionally, can be necessary, e.g. when the manipulator has made contact between the outlet of a syringe and a non-sterile object), view photo
• 10-ml syringe shield, view photo
• sterile needles (sheathed) in their protective wrapping, view photo
• needle sheath holder, view photo
• two 10 ml vials of sterile 0.9% saline solution (one of them is a spare vial that, exceptionally, can be necessary, e.g. when the manipulator has made contact between the opening or the contents of the vial and a non-sterile object), view photo
• disinfecting swabs in their protective wrapping, view photo
• one pair of forceps and one pair of tongs, view photo
• MDP labelling vial, view photo
• lead vial shield for the MDP labelling vial, view photo
• absorbing paper for covering the work area, view photo

Practise preparing the work area and selecting accessory materials with the interactive animation.

As the preparation also requires that the eluate of ^99mTc in the form of pertechnetate is mixed with the labelling kit, the eluate must be obtained by eluting the generator before preparation can take place. Information on the generator and how it is eluted can be found in the Generator Module.