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Gallium-68 generator
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<p>A germanium-68/gallium-68 generator is a device used to extract the positron-emitting isotope <a href="/facts/Gallium-68/Wk0C9DbY">68Ga</a> of <a href="/facts/Gallium/EucevDs9">gallium</a> from a source of decaying germanium-68. The parent isotope <a href="/facts/Isotopes_of_germanium/kLqa6bcf">68Ge</a> has a <a href="/facts/Half-life/kGVH8BAB">half-life</a> of 271 days and can be easily utilized for in-hospital production of generator produced 68Ga. Its decay product gallium-68 (with a half-life of only 68 minutes, inconvenient for transport) is extracted and used for certain <a href="/facts/Positron_emission_tomography/5SmcW6qz">positron emission tomography</a> <a href="/facts/Nuclear_medicine/L9Dzjd90">nuclear medicine</a> diagnostic procedures, where the radioisotope's relatively short half-life and emission of positrons for creation of 3-dimensional <a href="/facts/PET_scan/5SmcW6qz">PET scans</a>, are useful. </p>