technetium (99mTc) ethylenedicysteine

Technetium (99mTc) ethylenedicysteine (99mTc-EC) is a diagnostic radiopharmaceutical used in dynamic renal scintigraphy (diuretic renography) to evaluate renal function, particularly renal tubular function and urinary tract drainage. It was developed as an alternative to technetium-99m mercaptoacetyltriglycine (99mTc-MAG3) and iodine-131 orthoiodohippurate (131I-OIH). 99mTc-EC is cleared rapidly from the blood and excreted almost exclusively by the kidneys via active tubular secretion mediated by organic anion transporters (OAT1 and OAT3). It provides high-quality scintigraphic images of the kidneys with low background activity and negligible hepatobiliary excretion, making it highly effective for diagnosing urinary tract obstruction, assessing split renal function, and evaluating renal transplants, even in patients with impaired renal function.

Other names

99mTc-EC99mTc-L,L-EC99mTc-ethylenedicysteineTc-99m-ECTc99m-ECTc 99m-ECtechnetium (99mTc)-L,L-ethylenedicysteinetechnetium Tc 99m ethylenedicysteinetechnetium Tc 99m-ethylenedicysteine