Evaluation of potential innovative positron-emitting radionuclides for PET applications
Résumé
The opportunities offered by the construction in Nantes (France) of a high energy (70 MeV) and high intensity (2 simultaneous 350 μA proton beams and one 30 μA alpha beam) cyclotron (ARRONAX) for radiochemistry and nuclear medicine research has prompted us to reinvestigate the production of several beta+ isotopes. Fluorine-18 is widely used in clinical routine practice for PET examination, but fails to achieve all the potential benefits of PET imaging for one major reason: its short half-life is not suited to the long kinetics of large molecules, e.g. antibodies, which may be used for diagnostics (immuno-PET) and radioimmunotherapy. Since PET cameras achieve better image quantification than SPECT cameras, beta+/beta- couples of the same element, which will follow the same metabolic pathways, could be used to monitor radionuclide distribution, and thus to obtain more precise dosimetry, especially in the field of radioimmunotherapy (RIT).