A Picture of Modern Tc-99m Radiopharmaceuticals: Production, Chemistry, and Applications in Molecular Imaging

Even today, techentium-99m represents the radionuclide of choice for diagnostic radio-imaging applications. Its peculiar physical and chemical properties make it particularly suitable for medical imaging. By the use of molecular probes and perfusion radiotracers, it provides rapid and non-invasive evaluation of the function, physiology, and/or pathology of organs. The versatile chemistry of technetium-99m, due to its multi-oxidation states, and, consequently, the ability to produce a variety of complexes with particular desired characteristics, are the major advantages of this medical radionuclide. The advances in technetium coordination chemistry over the last 20 years, in combination with recent advances in detector technologies and reconstruction algorithms, make SPECT's spatial resolution comparable to that of PET, allowing Tc-99m radiopharmaceuticals to have an important role in nuclear medicine and to be particularly suitable for molecular imaging. In this review the most efficient chemical methods, based on the modern concept of the Tc-99m-metal fragment approach, applied to the development of technetium-99m radiopharmaceuticals for molecular imaging, are described. A specific paragraph is dedicated to the development of new Tc-99m-based radiopharmaceuticals for prostate cancer.