What can nitrogen-13 be used for?

Ammonia N 13 Injection is a radioactive diagnostic agent for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) indicated for diagnostic PET imaging of the myocardium under rest or pharmacologic stress conditions to evaluate myocardial perfusion in patients with suspected or existing coronary artery disease.

What radiation does nitrogen-13?

Nitrogen N13 decays by emitting positron to Carbon C13 (stable) and has a physical half-life of 9.96 minutes. The principal photons useful for imaging are the dual 511 keV gamma photons that are produced and emitted simultaneously in opposite direction when the positron interacts with an electron (Table 2).

Is N 13 a positron emitter?

The reaction product 13N is short-lived and decays with a 10 min half-life, to 13C (a positron emitter). High energy (30 MeV), photons also transmute 14N to 12N, another very short-lived isotope (11 ms half-life) that also decays by positron emission.

How does nitrogen-13 leave the body?

When protein is metabolized, about 90 per cent of its nitrogen is excreted in the urine in the form of urea, uric acid, creatinine, and other nitrogen end-products. The remaining 10 per cent of the nitrogen is eliminated in the feces.

How is positron emission tomography used in nuclear medicine?

(July 2019) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Positron-emission tomography ( PET) is a nuclear medicine functional imaging technique that is used to observe metabolic processes in the body as an aid to the diagnosis of disease.

Why is N-13 used as a radionuclide?

Because N-13 is a radionuclide of a natural constituent of ammonia, as opposed to some of the other isotopes, it is expected to participate in the normal physiological uptake of ammonia. N-13 ammonia is highly extractable from the circulation into myocardial cells where it is rapidly metabolized.

Why is the use of N-13 ammonia pet necessary?

CMS determines that the evidence is adequate to conclude that the use of N-13 ammonia PET for the evaluation of myocardial perfusion is reasonable and necessary for the diagnosis or treatment of the illness or injury or to improve the functioning of a malformed body member in the population specified.

How is N-13 ammonia used in microperfusion?

N-13 ammonia is highly extractable from the circulation into myocardial cells where it is rapidly metabolized. This property may provide information on microperfusion, in addition to conveying anatomical information (patency or occlusion) about larger vessels.