Production of uncommon radionuclides for nuclear medicine at theTESLA Accelerator Installation

摘要

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) became the technique of choice for nuclear medicalrndiagnostics. PET has evolved around the use of short-lived radionuclides of natural organic elementsrnsuch as 11C, 13N, 15O, and 18F. Even though a number of longer-lived positron emitting radionuclidesrnare known, which nuclear properties satisfies the requirements for PET imaging, they are not yetrncommonly used in nuclear medicine. The diversity of physical, chemical and biochemical propertiesrnof these radionuclides justifies further exploration into this area of inorganic PET in order to takernadvantage of the opportunities offered by such radionuclides in PET research. In addition, certainrnapplications particularly in oncology require tracer kinetics to be followed for periods exceeding thernlimits of conventional short-lived PET radionuclides. Also, these radiotracers could find application inrnmicro-dosimetry of therapeutic procedures based on radionuclides. Based upon available radiobiologicrnand experimental evidence it is clear that α-particle emitters have great potential for use inrnendoradiotherapy. 149Tb is such a radionuclide, recently proposed as the most promising alpha emitterrnfor endoradiotherapy. The Channel for production of radionuclides (H4) of the TESLA AcceleratorrnInstallation has been designed for routine production of common radionuclides as 201Tl, 111In, 67Ga,rn123I, and 18F and experimental production of novel radionuclides for research purposes. The diversityrnof energetic beams that will be delivered by the VINCY Cyclotron makes this installation perfectlyrnsuited for the production of a variety of uncommon radionuclides, what is ultimately required for therndevelopment of new radiotracers for imaging and therapy. Having in mind the possible impact of thesernalternative radionuclides on the future development of nuclear medicine, their experimental productionrnhas the highest priority within the planned activities of the Channel for production of radionuclidesrn(H4) of the TESLA Accelerator Installation. The first research projects will focus on the production ofrn86Y, 124I, 64Cu and 149Tb and development of radiopharmaceuticals based on these radionuclides.