Directory of Cyclotrons used for Radionuclide Production in Member ...

One interesting aspect of this distribution is that many institutions are spending a very small
fraction of the available time in radioisotope production. The cyclotron is idle for a significant fraction
of the week. This implies that the cyclotron is not the slow step in clinical applications and that a
single cyclotron can support several PET or PET/CT cameras.
The other interesting trend is in the compounds that are being synthesized with these
radioisotopes. A graph of the number of centres that responded synthesizing these compounds is given
in Fig. 3.
Number of Instutions
250
200
150
100
50
0
FDG FLT FDOPA Methonine Ammonia Water
Compound
FIG. 3. Number of reporting institutions that use a particular compound.
This figure clearly shows that 18 F-FDG is the most widely produced compound at cyclotron
facilities world wide. It is now used in many applications in diagnostic nuclear medicine.
TABLE II. EXPECTED PRODUCTION YIELDS (MCI) OF SYNTHETIC PRECURSORS OF PET
RADIOPHARMACEUTICALS WITH SELECTED PROTON AND DEUTERON ENERGIES AND
IRRADIATION AT 20 TO 35 ΜA AS RECOMMENDED BY THE MANUFACTURER OF VARIOUS
CYCLOTRONS.
Precursor 12 MeV p only 10 MeV p + 5 MeV d 18 MeV p + 9 MeV d
11 CO2 1500 1000 2800
11 CO 1000 350 1400
11 CO 1250 350 700
11 CO 750 250 1200
13 NH3 200 100 450
15 O2 1000 >150/min. 1200
15 OC 500 >75/min. 700
15 OCO 500 >150/min. 700
15 OH2 750 200 1000
18 F - 700 >500 800
18 FF 300
4