Table 1.
Selected metallic radionuclides employed in diagnostic nuclear medicine.
| Isotope | Radiation Type | Emax [keV] (Decay %) | Half-Life | Production (Common Reaction) |
Main Application Areas |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 99mTc | γ | 141 (89.1%) | 6.01 h |
99Mo/99mTc generator (cyclotron alternatively) |
SPECT of lung, brain, myocard, bones, kidney, liver, etc. |
| 111In | 171.3 (90.2%) 245.4 (94%) |
2.83 d | cyclotron, 112Cd(p, 2n)111In | SPECT of somatostatin receptor-positive NET | |
| 67Ga | 93.3 (37%), 184.6 (20.4%), 300.2 (16.6%) | 3.26 d | cyclotron, 68Zn(p, 2n)67Ga | scintigraphy of inflammation, infection, tumors | |
| 64Cu | β+ | 653 (17.6%) | 12.7 h | cyclotron, 64Ni(p, n)64Cu | PET imaging of hypoxic tumors, integrin- and gastrin-releasing peptide receptor-positive tumors |
| 68Ga | 836 (89%) | 67.7 m |
68Ge/68Ga generator (cyclotron alternatively) |
PET imaging of somatostatin receptor-, PSMA-, FAP-overexpressed tumors | |
| 89Zr | 395 (23%) | 3.3 d | cyclotron, 89Y(p, n)89Zr | immuno-PET imaging |
Dosimetry and imaging aspects, depending on a particular radiolabeled compound and its properties, as well as an overall condition of a patient, can be found (if they were evaluated) in individual imaging studies discussed in Section 4.