Technetium-99m is a nuclear isomer of technetium-99, which is an isotope of technetium. It is the most widely used medical radioisotope, used as a radioactive tracer that is tracked in the body using gamma cameras. It emits gamma rays without beta rays making it useful as a medical tracer, there is less ionization as the gamma rays are absorbed outside the body. The half-life of technetium-99m makes it suitable for introduction into the body, as its half-life is approximately 6 hours, so after 24 hours the technetium-99m has almost completely decayed into technetium-99. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay This means that patient exposure is limited as much as possible. There is enough time to collect data using technetium-99m but without causing too much harm to the patient. The isotope technetium-99m is used as other isotopes such as technetium-95m have a longer half-life, meaning they are not suitable to be used in the human body as they cause excessive exposure. The half-life of technetium-95m is 61 days and the half-life of technetium-97 is years. Technetium-99m is a nuclear isomer of technetium-99. The differences between the two isotopes are such that technetium-99 has a half-life of years compared to technetium-99m which has a half-life of only 6 hours. Furthermore, when technetium-99 decays into ruthenium-99, it emits beta particles and not gamma rays, causing increased ionization in the human body, so it is more dangerous as a medical tracer. Technetium-99m is used in diagnostic imaging procedures, being bonded to a drug. Depending on the drug used, technetium-99m can track different things, such as infections, if white blood cells are labeled. Or it can be used to show the blood flowing through the heart and how well it does so. The dangers of using technetium-99m are radiation exposure to anyone nearby, such as patients, passersby, and technicians. The precautions are: Keep technetium-99m in a controlled environment, with signs on doors preventing people from entering the environment and exposing themselves. Technetium-99m is safer than other isotopes because its decay can be detected by gamma cameras, so less needs to be used. Additionally, the short half-life of technetium-99m causes it to rapidly decay into the less radioactive technetium-99, reducing exposure times. Please note: this is just a sample. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a custom essay When preparing individual doses for patients, consideration should be given to how much technetium-99m decays. Therefore, if you make a batch of technetium-99m and use it 2 hours later, you will not get the original dosage. Therefore the dosage is calculated using the radioactivity of each dose and dividing it by the concentration of the preparation. Technetium-99m is produced in hospitals due to its short half-life, so in order for hospitals to produce technetium-99m, molybdenum-99 is administered instead. Molybdenum-99 is produced by bombarding uranium with fission-causing neutrons, to produce Mo-99. Hospitals place Mo-99 in technetium generators to produce technetium-99m, as Mo-99 decays to form Tc-99m.