11 Application of Accelerators and Storage Rings
715
Actinium-225 generator produced with the reaction 226 Ra(p,2n) by 22 MeV protons.
Bromine-77, an Auger-electron emitter produced with either alphas (27 MeV) or
protons (in various possible reactions starting at the energy of 13 MeV), is a good
candidate for its simple association with physiological molecules. Among the beta
emitters, Renium-186 is favorably regarded since, it belongs to the same chemical
family of Technetium and therefore it can follow similar the chemical process well
establishes for 99m Tc.
Brachytherapy with radioactive seeds is an established way of endoradiotherapy
based almost exclusively on reactor-produced radionuclides. One exception is
Palladium-103, an Auger-electron emitter produced in reasonable quantities by
18 MeV cyclotrons.
Interest is rising in endoradiotherapy based on pre-therapeutic PET dosimetry.
Two radioisotopes of the same element can be used for complementary proposes.
First the pre-therapeutic positron emitter is injected to trace the physiological uptake
of the element and then the therapeutic isotope is administered to the patient
according to the dose estimation. Isotope pairs of Copper and Scandium (β + emitted
from 64 Cu or 44 Sc used for PET imaging, β − emitted from 67 Cu or 47 Sc used for
therapy) are considered for these procedures [61].
It is important to underline the steering role played by the medical community in determining the future of diagnostic, with SPECT and PET, and of
endoradiotherapy, which is today only a marginal segment. Medical doctors—
who today use preferably one diagnostic modality, SPECT, and one radionuclide,
Technetium-99m—with their future orientations will influence the development
on new tools than could complement or substitutes the existing one. A challenge
is also the complexity of transforming an effective radioisotope to an approved
pharmacological product. The most important factors to consider are the availability
and cost of the raw material, the access to accelerators or reactors with appropriate
energy and fluxes, the existence of fast radiochemistry, and the logistic to delivery
the radioisotopes on time before they decay.
To address the needs of the research of new medical applications, and also to
partially take over the aging accelerators, some dedicated facilities have been put
in place worldwide. Among others (i) ARRONAX in Nantes, financed by French
regional and National authorities and the European Union, that hosts a cyclotron
for H − (up to 70 MeV, 350 μA protons), H 2
+ , D − , and He ++ ; (ii) LANSCE in
Los Alamos, USA, that produces from 2005 medical radioisotopes from a highcurrent 100-MeV proton linear accelerator; (iii) the PEFP center in South Korea,
a facility based on a 20 mA proton linear accelerator (an RFQ followed by two
Drift Tube Linacs to energies of 20 MeV and 100 MeV) for medical and industrial
applications.
A motivation for studying new applications of accelerators came from the
worldwide shortage of Molybdenum-99, the generator of Technetium-99m. The
production dropped to about 50% of the market needs for 16 months between
2009 and 2010. Commercial Molybdenum is a fission product of highly enriched
uranium target produced almost exclusively in five reactors that are old and need
715
Actinium-225 generator produced with the reaction 226 Ra(p,2n) by 22 MeV protons.
Bromine-77, an Auger-electron emitter produced with either alphas (27 MeV) or
protons (in various possible reactions starting at the energy of 13 MeV), is a good
candidate for its simple association with physiological molecules. Among the beta
emitters, Renium-186 is favorably regarded since, it belongs to the same chemical
family of Technetium and therefore it can follow similar the chemical process well
establishes for 99m Tc.
Brachytherapy with radioactive seeds is an established way of endoradiotherapy
based almost exclusively on reactor-produced radionuclides. One exception is
Palladium-103, an Auger-electron emitter produced in reasonable quantities by
18 MeV cyclotrons.
Interest is rising in endoradiotherapy based on pre-therapeutic PET dosimetry.
Two radioisotopes of the same element can be used for complementary proposes.
First the pre-therapeutic positron emitter is injected to trace the physiological uptake
of the element and then the therapeutic isotope is administered to the patient
according to the dose estimation. Isotope pairs of Copper and Scandium (β + emitted
from 64 Cu or 44 Sc used for PET imaging, β − emitted from 67 Cu or 47 Sc used for
therapy) are considered for these procedures [61].
It is important to underline the steering role played by the medical community in determining the future of diagnostic, with SPECT and PET, and of
endoradiotherapy, which is today only a marginal segment. Medical doctors—
who today use preferably one diagnostic modality, SPECT, and one radionuclide,
Technetium-99m—with their future orientations will influence the development
on new tools than could complement or substitutes the existing one. A challenge
is also the complexity of transforming an effective radioisotope to an approved
pharmacological product. The most important factors to consider are the availability
and cost of the raw material, the access to accelerators or reactors with appropriate
energy and fluxes, the existence of fast radiochemistry, and the logistic to delivery
the radioisotopes on time before they decay.
To address the needs of the research of new medical applications, and also to
partially take over the aging accelerators, some dedicated facilities have been put
in place worldwide. Among others (i) ARRONAX in Nantes, financed by French
regional and National authorities and the European Union, that hosts a cyclotron
for H − (up to 70 MeV, 350 μA protons), H 2
+ , D − , and He ++ ; (ii) LANSCE in
Los Alamos, USA, that produces from 2005 medical radioisotopes from a highcurrent 100-MeV proton linear accelerator; (iii) the PEFP center in South Korea,
a facility based on a 20 mA proton linear accelerator (an RFQ followed by two
Drift Tube Linacs to energies of 20 MeV and 100 MeV) for medical and industrial
applications.
A motivation for studying new applications of accelerators came from the
worldwide shortage of Molybdenum-99, the generator of Technetium-99m. The
production dropped to about 50% of the market needs for 16 months between
2009 and 2010. Commercial Molybdenum is a fission product of highly enriched
uranium target produced almost exclusively in five reactors that are old and need