Radioisotope Production and Applications
A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Chemical and Molecular Sciences".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2013) | Viewed by 60266
Special Issue Editor
Interests: radiochemistry; radiopharmaceutical development; molecular imaging; positron emission tomography, radioisotope production and applications
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Molecular imaging has enabled health professionals and basic researchers to probe the function of living systems at the molecular level, enabling non-invasive studies into functional changes that take place during the onset and progression of disease, well before anatomical changes occur. Understanding the molecular progression of disease is changing the way it is diagnosed, staged and treated and will ultimately enable a paradigm of personalized healthcare.
Between 20 and 40 million single photon- and positron emission tomography (SPECT and PET) scans are performed each year around the world in patients suffering from heart ailments, cancer and neurological diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. With new biological questions about these diseases (and others) continuously emerging, novel ways of producing medical isotopes, converting them into radiopharmaceuticals and demonstrating in vivo efficacy are of paramount importance. Such an effort requires amalgamation of basic and applied research across the disciplines of physics, chemistry and biology—all of which are geared toward the development of better imaging protocols or contrast-enhancing biological probes.
The widespread acceptance of new and promising radioisotopes and radiopharmaceuticals is typically challenged by their availability and accessibility. Despite the advances in availability of medical cyclotrons in the hospital setting, new isotope production, isolation and application remains a difficult task for most institutions. Couple this with the anticipated shutdown of the world’s major 99mTc production reactor and accelerator-based production facilities will face an increasing responsibility to meet isotope demands of the healthcare community.
The need to install novel infrastructure and/or purchase isotope generators necessitates a substantial technical and financial commitment that may be difficult to justify, especially if preliminary biological studies are warranted to establish proof of feasibility for the isotopes in question. These obstacles likely inhibit the development of novel tracers that may possess a better match between the physical half-life of a promising new radioisotope and the pharmacokinetic profile of the vector to which it is attached.
This special issue of Applied Sciences, titled “Radioisotope Production and Application” aims to cover recent advances in the development of new and promising production methods for metallic and non-metallic medical isotopes, as well as new radiochemical techniques for radiopharmaceutical production and their use in novel applications. Reviews are also welcome.
Dr. Paul Schaffer
Guest Editor
Submission
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Keywords
- cyclotron
- cyclotron target design, operation
- isotope production, isolation
- medical radioisotopes
- radiometals
- radiopharmaceutical chemistry
- radiopharmaceuticals
- positron emission tomography (PET)
- single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)
- molecular imaging
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