Production scheme for diagnostic-therapeutic radioisotopes by accelerator neutrons

Abstract

Interest has been growing in the development of medical radioisotopes used for noninvasive nuclear medicine imaging of disease and cancer therapy. Especially the development of an alternative production scheme of 99 Mo, the mother radioisotope of 99m Tc used for imaging, is required, because the current supply chain of the reactor product 99 Mo is fragile worldwide. We have proposed a new production scheme of 99 Mo as well as therapeutic radioisotopes, such as 64 Cu and 67 Cu, using accelerator neutrons provided by the nat C(d,n) reaction. Based on this scheme we have obtained high-quality 99m Tc, 64 Cu, and 67 Cu suitable for clinical use by developing both production and separation methods of the radioisotopes. We proposed a new facility to constantly and reliably produce a wide variety of high-quality, carrier-free radioisotopes, including 99 Mo, with accelerator neutrons. We report on the development of the proposed scheme and future prospects of the facility toward the domestic production of medical radioisotopes.

Fusion-Based Neutron Generator Production of Tc-99m and Tc-101: A Prospective Avenue to Technetium Theranostics

“…The shorter half-lives of both the parent and daughter permit ample activity of 101 Tc to be produced, even with moderate neutron fluxes and irradiation times under the conditions previously discussed, which in turn would allow for further tagging, QA-QC, and distribution within an immediate locale. Recent efforts on establishing robust and efficient separations of 99m Tc from low-specific activity 99 Mo targets [ 2 , 22 , 23 , 63 , 85 , 86 ] also provide possible avenues for the isolation and use of 101 Tc. As demonstrated here, the use of activated carbon as a chromatographic substrate is effective for isolating 101 Tc from LSA Mo solutions under acidic conditions.…”

Application of therapeutic linear accelerators for the production of radioisotopes used in nuclear medicine

“…1,2 However, over the past decade, several independent shutdowns and downtimes of the research reactors have significantly disrupted the global supply of radioisotopes, 3 which destroyed the current supply chain of the reactor product 99 Mo. 4 With the advent of PET technology, the need for a more reliable supply of radionuclides with short half-lives drove the industry to develop small medical cyclotrons for the production of the primary radiopharmaceutical, fluorine-18fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). Today, there are literally thousands of small cyclotrons operating daily around the world for medical applications.…”