Perfusion Studies with Technetium-99m Human Albumin Microspheres (HAM)

Abstract

The radiochemistry, toxicity, and clinical effectiveness of 99mTclabeled human albumin microspheres (HAM), a new radiopharmaceutical for perfusion studies, have been investigated. The tagging procedure is simple and rapid. No toxic effects were observed when up to 15 times the human organ equivalent of HAM was injected into the lungs of dogs, nor when doses up to 30 times the human equivalent were injected into the brain, kidneys, and celiac axis. Scintillation camera perfusion images of the human lung are excellent, with minimum initial radioactivity in the liver and spleen.