Rubidium-82 chloride is a form of rubidium chloride containing a radioactive isotope of

rubidium Rubidium is the chemical element with the symbol Rb and atomic number 37. It is a very soft, whitish-grey solid in the alkali metal group, similar to potassium and caesium. Rubidium is the first alkali metal in the group to have a density higher ...

. It is marketed under the brand name Cardiogen-82 by

Bracco Diagnostics The Bracco Group is an Italian multinational active in the healthcare sector with more than 3,300 employees worldwide, which operates in a variety of business areas. *Diagnostic imaging, with products for X-ray imaging, including computed tomog ...

for use in

Myocardial perfusion imaging Myocardial perfusion imaging or scanning (also referred to as MPI or MPS) is a nuclear medicine procedure that illustrates the function of the heart muscle (myocardium). It evaluates many heart conditions, such as coronary artery disease (CAD), h ...

. It is rapidly taken up by heart muscle cells, and therefore can be used to identify regions of heart muscle that are receiving poor blood flow in a technique called PET perfusion imaging. The half-life of the rubidium-82 is only 1.27 minutes; it is normally produced at the place of use by rubidium generators.

References

Further reading