Accelerator production of copper-64 for PET and radiotherapy

摘要

Copper-64 is an intermediate-lived positron emitting radionculide which is a useful radiotracer for positron emission tomography and a promising radiotherapy agent for cancer treatment. Copper-64 is currently reactor-produced, and because it can only be produced at a small number of reactor facilities, its availability is extremetly limited. We have shown that high yields of ~(64)Cu with high specific activity and radiochemical purity can be produced via the ~(64)Ni(p, n) ~(64)Cu reaction using a 16 MeV cyclotron beam. An automated target and pneumatic transport line have been constructed and tested which allow production of over 500 mCi batches of ~(64)Cu and delivery to a hot cell for processing. A technique for the rapid and efficient separation of ~(64)Cu from the ~(64)Ni target material and other reaction byproducts has been developed and the enriched target material has been recovered with an efficiency greater then 90