Real time nuclear isotope detection

Abstract

A radioisotope generator that releases a daughter radioisotope from radioactive decay of a corresponding parent isotope, such as a 82Sr/82Rb radioisotope generator or 68Ge/68Ga radioisotope generator, may be used to generate radioisotopes for medical imaging applications. In some examples, a gamma ray detector is positioned to detect gamma rays emanating from radioactive eluate flowing from the generator. Based on the detected gamma rays, an activity of the daughter radioisotope in the eluate and an activity of the parent radioisotope in the eluate may be determined. Depending on the application, the activity of the daughter radioisotope and the activity of the parent radioisotope may be determined in substantially real time, e.g., so that the eluate can be diverted from patient dosing based on determined activity information for the eluate.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.