A radionuclide generator is a device which provides a local supply of a short-lived radioactive substance from the decay of a longer-lived parent radionuclide. They are commonly used in nuclear medicine to supply a radiopharmacy.[1] The generator provides a way to separate the desired product from the parent, in a process that can be repeated a number of times over the life of the parent,[2][3] as needed.
Use of a generator avoids the challenge of distributing short-lived radionuclides from the original production site (a nuclear reactor or cyclotron) to individual users; the loss of activity due to decay in transit can result in too little being supplied or the need for much larger initial quantities to be sent out (incurring additional production and transport costs).[4] In many case an alternative to generator use is an on-site cyclotron producing the desired isotope; it is feasible to have cyclotrons at larger centres, but they are much more expensive and complex than generators.[5] Even if the medical radionuclide's life is not that short, a generator may be used because of the low-cost availability of the parent, as with the strontium-90/yttrium-90 system.
Long-lived radionuclides which are administered to a patient with a view to utilising useful properties of a daughter product have been termed in-vivo generators, though they are not now routinely used clinically.[6]
Commercial and experimental generators
edit| Parent | (half-life) | Daughter | (half-life) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Technetium generator | 99Mo | 2.75 days | 99mTc | 6.01 hours |
| Gallium generator | 68Ge | 271.05 days | 68Ga | 67.8 minutes |
| Rubidium generator[7] | 82Sr | 25.35 days | 82Rb | 1.26 minutes |
| Copper generator[2] | 62Zn | 9.19 hours | 62Cu | 9.67 minutes |
| Krypton generator[8] | 81Rb | 4.572 hours | 81mKr | 13.1 seconds |
| Yttrium generator[9] | 90Sr | 28.91 years | 90Y | 64 hours |
| Rhenium generator[9] | 188W | 69.77 days | 188Re | 17.0 hours |
Further reading
edit- IAEA. "Generator Module". Human Health Campus. International Atomic Energy Agency.
References
edit- ^ Rösch, F; Knapp, F F (2003). "Radionuclide Generators". In Vértes, Attila; Nagy, Sándor; Klencsár, Zoltan; Lovas, Rezső G. (eds.). Handbook of Nuclear Chemistry: Radiochemistry and radiopharmaceutical chemistry in life sciences. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 9781402013164.
- ^ a b Vallabhajosula, Shankar (2009). Molecular Imaging: Radiopharmaceuticals for PET and SPECT. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 56. ISBN 9783540767350.
- ^ Saha, Gopal B. (2010). Fundamentals of Nuclear Pharmacy. Springer. p. 67. ISBN 9781441958600.
- ^ Currie, GM; Wheat, JM; Davidson, R; Kiat, H (September 2011). "Radionuclide production". Radiographer. 58 (3): 46–52. doi:10.1002/j.2051-3909.2011.tb00155.x.
- ^ IAEA (2008). Cyclotron produced radionuclides : principles and practice. Vienna: International Atomic Energy Agency. ISBN 978-92-0-100208-2.
- ^ Edem, Patricia E.; Fonslet, Jesper; Kjær, Andreas; Herth, Matthias; Severin, Gregory (2016). "In Vivo Radionuclide Generators for Diagnostics and Therapy". Bioinorganic Chemistry and Applications. 2016: 1–8. doi:10.1155/2016/6148357. PMC 5183759. PMID 28058040.
- ^ Waters, S. L.; Coursey, B. M., eds. (1987). "The Strontium-82/rubidium-82 generator". International Journal of Radiation Applications and Instrumentation A. 38 (3): 171–239.
- ^ Fremlin, John H; Stammers, Keith; Stewart, Frederick R (November 1978). "A new generator for krypton-81m". Nuclear Instruments and Methods. 156 (3): 369–373. doi:10.1016/0029-554X(78)90739-5.
- ^ a b IAEA (2009). Therapeutic radionuclide generators : 90Sr/90Y and 188W/188Re generators. Vienna: International Atomic Energy Agency. ISBN 978-92-0-111408-2.