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Technetium was the first artificially produced element, identified in 1937, and has no stable isotopes. Technetium-99m is by far its most important form for medicine, with a short half-life of about six hours.
Technetium-99m emits a gamma photon of moderate energy that is easily detected by imaging equipment, while its short half-life allows its emissions to be used as a diagnostic tracer while keeping patient radiation exposure very low. These properties make it close to ideal for routine diagnostic imaging.
Technetium-99m is the world's most widely used medical radioisotope, involved in more than 30 million procedures every year. It is used to image the heart, bones, kidneys, and many other organs, most often in cardiac and skeletal studies.
Technetium-99m cannot be stored, so it is extracted at the point of care from a generator containing longer-lived molybdenum-99, which is produced in a handful of ageing research reactors, some over 50 years old. These reactors frequently shut down for extended repairs and unexpected outages have caused worldwide shortages.
StandardX is developing accelerator-based molybdenum-99 production to provide a reliable supply independent of ageing reactors, also enabling expanded global use.