Technetium (99mTc)Medronate (99mTc-MDP)is a diphosphonate complexwith technetium-99m indicated for bone imaging to identifyareas of altered osteogenesis. The clinical use of this agentis for investigation of skeletal problems such as metastaticdisease to the bones, osteomyelitis, Paget disease, fractures,primary bone tumors, avascular necrosis, metabolic bonedisease, and loose or infected hip prostheses. Stress fracturescan be diagnosed by bone imaging when x-rays arecompletely normal. Bone radioscintigraphy is one of themost commonly performed nuclear medicine diagnosticprocedures because the whole-body survey allows evaluationof the entire skeleton, which cannot be done as costeffectivelyby any other imaging modality.
The relatively weak complex is prepared by addingsodium pertechnetate (99mTc) to the shielded vial containingmedronic acid, a stannous salt (varies among manufacturers)with or without an antioxidant stabilizer. Radiolabeling requires an incubation of 1 to 2 minutes, and the recommendedshelf life is 6 hours.
