N.D. 77 BY THE MINISTER FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

AUSTRALIAN DEVELOPMENT TO AID MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS

Prompt and accurate diagnosis of a wide range of aliments

is now possible, thanks to a new and improved design of "Technetium

Generator", developed at Lucas Heights. The Minister for

National Development, Mr R.W. Swartz, said today that the

Australian Atomic Energy Commi&sion could now give hospitals a

much more concentrated supply of this valuable radioactive

material, in a small package. It should be possible to send

these generators not only to all parts of Australia and New Zealand

but as far as Singapore and Hong Kong.

radiopharmaceutical preparations which have revolutionised.:  x

medical diagnosis in the last decade. The technetium can have

many chemical forms, each with a particular application. Usually,

the patient is given an injection of the radioactive preparation.

Extremely sensitive detecting equipment reveals and traces the

course of the technetium compound as it moves through the body

and concentrates in a particular organ such as liver,'lung, kidney.

In the case of a brain tumour, for example, the technetium quickly

collects in the tumour itself. A scanning machine picks up the

radioactivity and produces an accurate picture of the tumour.

The process is quick and causes the patient no discomfort.

more disorders, and the Radioisotope Production Section at

Lucas Heights keeps in close touch with the hospital specialists

in nuclear medicine. The Commission has thus been able to

produce a number of new radiopharmaceutical compounds to meet

specific needs.

Radioactive technetium is the most widely used of the

This method of diagnosis is being applied to more and

Technetium, in various chemical forms, is by far the

Ã¢ÂÂ   most, versatile product. An advantage is that it loses its

radioactivity quite quickly, so that the patient receives only

a minimal radiation exposure.  However, this creates a problem

in supplying to more distant centres a product which loses half

its radioactivity in six hours.

The technetium generator has provided the answer.

Such generators have been in common use for some years,

but the new type generators now being made at Lucas Heights

yield much more technetium before becoming exhausted. Generators

supplied as stock items in other countries have a maximum radioÂ­

active strength of 400 millicuries, but the Commission has

produced one of 10,000 millicuries, and routine deliveries are

being made to Melbourne of generators of 1,000 millicuries.

The first step to these improved results has been to

develop a better method of producing the molybdenum. Originally,

it was made from products of fission of uranium atoms, but the

early chemical processes resulted in too many impurities.

Alternative methods were then adopted, which are still in use

elsewhere, but these proved less suitable for use in Australia.

How the Commission has improved the fission product extraction

process and has established a large-scale plant to produce..material

of high purity, which gives much better results in the generators.

The second stage has been to re-design the generator

itself. The Commission's new generator is simple to use and gives

a high yield of technetium.

The radioactive generators are assembled at Lucas Heights

by remote handling behind thick lead walls with lead-glass windows,

and the parts must therefore go together easily and-  with complete

precision.

In Sydney 'done:,, there are ten centres of nuclear

medicine, each of which uses technetium every day. Other

Australian capital cities also are being regularly supplied

from Lucas Heights. Mr Swartz said that the range and quantity

of these deliveries can be expected to increase as a result of

the improvements. He pointed out that the Commonwealth was

providing these materials free of charge, as a service to

Australian hospitals.

CANBERRA,

23 December, 1971

