Studies on the development of Yb-169-brachytherapy seeds: New generation brachytherapy sources for the management of cancer

摘要

This paper describes development of Yb-169-seeds by encapsulating 0.6-0.65 mm (phi) sized (Yb2O3)-Yb-169 microspheres in titanium capsules. Microspheres synthesized by a sol-gel route were characterized by XRD, SEM/EDS and ICP-AES. Optimization of neutron irradiation was accomplished and Yb-169-seeds up to 74 MBq of Yb-169 could be produced from natural Yb2O3 microspheres, which have the potential for use in prostate brachytherapy. A protocol to prepare Yb-169-brachytherapy sources (2.96-3.7 TBq of Yb-169) with the use of enriched targets was also formulated. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.