# Gallium-67

Source: https://nuclide.cc/isotopes/ga-67/  
Nuclide record `ga-67` (Isotope). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from Nuclide (nuclide.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

An older radioactive gallium tracer, given as a citrate injection, that lights up infections and some tumours over a scan taken a few days later; mostly replaced now by FDG PET but still used where PET is unavailable.

## Summary

Gallium-67 decays by electron capture with a 3.26-day (78.3-hour) half-life, emitting a set of gamma rays (93, 185 and 300 keV) suited to planar gamma-camera and SPECT imaging. Complexed with citrate as 67Ga-citrate, it accumulates in inflammatory and infectious foci and in a range of tumours, historically including lymphoma, hepatoma and bronchogenic carcinoma, and was for decades the standard whole-body tumour and infection imaging agent before FDG PET became widely available.

It is produced on a cyclotron by proton bombardment of enriched zinc-68, the 68Zn(p,2n)67Ga reaction, and its multi-day half-life means imaging is typically performed 24-72 hours after injection to let background activity clear, at the cost of a comparatively high radiation burden and lower image resolution than modern PET agents.

Clinical use of 67Ga-citrate has declined sharply since the 2000s as FDG-PET/CT displaced it for lymphoma and most solid-tumour indications, and it now survives mainly as a second-line option for infection and inflammation imaging where PET access, FDG production or reimbursement pose barriers.

## Fields

- Kind: Isotope
- Status: historic
- Last checked: 2026-09-22
- Also known as: 67Ga
- Tags: gamma emitter; legacy tumour and infection imaging

## Sources

- DailyMed/FDA label: Gallium Citrate Ga 67: https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/fda/fdaDrugXsl.cfm?setid=5f670c12-cca5-4d73-8a88-241f753d1bc7
- Nordion: gallium-67 fact sheet: https://www.nordion.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/MI_Gallium-67_Canada.pdf

## Connected records

- indications: [Fever of unknown origin](https://nuclide.cc/indications/fever-of-unknown-origin/), [Neuroendocrine tumours](https://nuclide.cc/indications/neuroendocrine/)
- technologies: [Cyclotron isotope production (F-18, Ga-68, Cu-64, Zr-89, At-211)](https://nuclide.cc/technologies/cyclotron-isotope-production/), [SPECT & bone scan](https://nuclide.cc/technologies/spect/)
- drugs: [Gallium citrate Ga-67](https://nuclide.cc/drugs/ga-67-citrate/)

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