Distribution and excretion of technetium in humans

Abstract

Widespread use of 99mTc as a tracer in medicine and large scale separation of 99Tc from fission product waste require that adequate knowledge of the metabolic properties of technetium be known so that realistic exposure limits can be imposed for the isotopes of interest. The present paper discusses a metabolic experiment using 95mTc (60 day T1/2) and 96Tc (4.3 day T1/2) in which long-term excretion, retention and localization of these isotopes were measured using whole-body counting techniques. Following intravenous and oral administration both urinary and fecal excretion rates were measured and mathematical models were derived for technetium elimination. The latter should be helpful in estimating body burdens of the weak beta-emitting 99Tc following inadvertent exposure. © 1966 Health Physics Society.