What is Gallium-67 used for?

Gallium citrate Ga 67 injection is used to help your doctor diagnose if you have certain types of cancer, such as Hodgkin’s disease, lymphoma, or lung cancer. It is also used to help your doctor see if you have acute swollen lesions.

Why is gallium-67 an effective medical tracer?

In infections, the gallium scan has an advantage over indium leukocyte imaging in imaging osteomyelitis (bone infection) of the spine, lung infections and inflammation, and for chronic infections. In part this is because gallium binds to neutrophil membranes, even after neutrophil death.

What are the benefits of a gallium scan?

A gallium scan identifies the cells that are dividing most quickly in your body. It can help detect some cancer cells. It can also help show cells that are rapidly reproducing or responding to an infection somewhere in your body. People with lymphoma (cancer of the lymph system) may need gallium scans.

What kind of radiation does Gallium-67 emit?

Gallium-67 is a cyclotron-produced radiometal with a physical half-life of 78.3 hrs. It emits up to 10 gamma photons during decay, but the most abundant ones relevant to imaging have energies and relative abundances (%) of 93 keV (39%), 184 keV (21%) and 300 keV (17%).

Where is gallium-67 found?

Imaging is usually performed 18–72 h after injection of 185–370 MBq of 67Ga-citrate. The normal biodistribution of 67Ga, which can be variable, includes bone, bone marrow, liver, genitourinary and gastrointestinal tracts, and soft tissues.

Who discovered GA 67?

Gallium, discovered in 1875 by Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran, was first considered for diagnostic and therapeutic medical use in the 1940s by the research of H. C. Dudley and his co-workers. Gallium scans were initially used for localizing tumors and abscesses.

Who created Gallium-67?

Does a bone scan show arthritis?

Bone scans are used to detect arthritis, neoplasm, fractures and sports injuries, tumors and metastatic disease, as well as to evaluate unexplained bone pain.