Is There an Interest to Use Deuteron Beams to Produce Non-Conventional Radionuclides?

Abstract

With the recent interest on the theranostic approach, there has been a renewed interest for alternative radionuclides in nuclear medicine. They can be produced using common production routes, i.e., using protons accelerated by biomedical cyclotrons or neutrons produced in research reactors. However, in some cases, it can be more valuable to use deuterons as projectiles. In the case of Cu-64, smaller quantities of the expensive target material, Ni-64, are used with deuterons as compared with protons for the same produced activity. For the Sc-44m/Sc-44g generator, deuterons afford a higher Sc-44m production yield than with protons. Finally, in the case of Re-186g, deuterons lead to a production yield five times higher than protons. These three examples show that it is of interest to consider not only protons or neutrons but also deuterons to produce alternative radionuclides.

Production and Use of the First-Row Transition Metal PET Radionuclides43,44Sc,52Mn, and45Ti

“…Another interesting study showed the uptake of 52g Mn-Mn 21 in monkeys after nostril administration of the radiotracer (37). Brain uptake in rhesus macaque monkeys was determined over 8 sessions with at least 6 mo between each session.…”

“…52g Mn-Mn(oxinate) 2 was synthesized and determined to have suitable in vitro stability to study extravasation in vivo when conjugated with a liposomal nanomedicine (40). In another study, which leveraged the biologic properties of Mn 21 , 52g Mn 21 -Mn 21 was successfully used to image functional b-cell mass in mice with type 1 and type 2 diabetes (41). Finally, 52g Mn 21 -Mn 21 was used to investigate the biodistribution of manganese when administered intravenously or through inhalation (38).…”

“…Enriched targets are preferred to avoid production of contaminants such as 46,48 Sc (18). Production studies of 44g,44m Sc using deuterons yielded up to 90 MBq (4 h after the end of bombardment) with a 3-h bombardment (21). In a similar study, 44g,44m Sc was produced via deuteron irradiation of enriched 44 CaCO 3 targets, and the authors concluded that production of 44g,m Sc via calcium targets is preferable to 43 Sc because of the higher natural abundance of 44 Ca than of 43 Ca (7,22).…”

Can We Extract Production Cross-Sections from Thick Target Yield Measurements? A Case Study Using Scandium Radioisotopes

“…The interest in three scandium radioisotopes, 43 Sc, 44g/m Sc and 47 Sc, in nuclear medicine has already been acknowledged and discussed in [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] (the selected properties of these radioisotopes are summarized in Table 1). Both positron emitters 43 Sc and 44g Sc are promising PET radioisotopes that can compete with the commonly used 68 Ga [1][2][3][4][5], while 44g Sc offers unique possibilities in the three-photon PET technique [6][7][8].…”

“…Both positron emitters 43 Sc and 44g Sc are promising PET radioisotopes that can compete with the commonly used 68 Ga [1][2][3][4][5], while 44g Sc offers unique possibilities in the three-photon PET technique [6][7][8]. Additionally, 44m Sc can be used as a 44m Sc/ 44g Sc long-lived in-vivo generator as it decays mainly by a low energy transition to the ground state [9][10][11][12]. Meanwhile, 47 Sc is a β-emitter suitable for both therapeutic purposes and SPECT imaging [13], which is emphasized also within the IAEA Coordinated Research Project [14,15].…”