Direct technetium radiopharmaceuticals production using a 30MeV Cyclotron

ABSTRACT

Technetium-99m is the major radionuclide used in the world and mainly is provided by fission product. However extensive research has been conducted on the use of accelerators for production of [99m]Tc. This investigation reports the production of [99m]Tc radioisotope using cyclotrons followed by the preparation, quality control and biodistribution studies of four major Tc-radiopharmaceuticals. The high purity molybdenum natural target [130mg/cm[2]] was irradiated in a Cyclone 30 accelerator using 160 microA of 25 MeV proton beam energy for 1000 microA-h. After dissolution, the technetium radionuclides were extracted using methyl ethyl ketone [MEK] followed by preparation of Tc-MIBI, Tc-DTPA, Tc-DMSA and Tc-phytate as radiopharmaceutical samples. The results of quality controls and animal biodistribution studies showed successful production of Tc radionuclides [including [99m]Tc] in the bombarded target and subsequent labelling of the kit with Tc. The developed high power Mo target if constructed using enriched [100]Mo, could be a practical method for large-scale production of [99m]Tc and promising as an alternative to fission product [99m]Mo- [99m]Tc generators for local applications near cyclotron facilities