S (Sulfur)

Radiometals for imaging and theranostics, current production, and future perspectives

“…86 The production of 44 Sc from enriched 44 Ca at a cyclotron was investigated in detail, resulting in the first preclinical application of a 44 Sc-labelled biomolecule in tumourbearing mice. 76 The irradiation process of CaCO 3 salt being irradiated with protons, as well as the chemical separation method based on extraction and ion exchange chromatography, respectively, was optimized, enabling the production of high activities of radionuclidically pure 44 Sc using approximately 11 MeV protons, thereby ensuring a minimal coproduction of 44m Sc. 87,88 These developments finally resulted in the use of cyclotron-produced 44 Sc, for the first time, in a clinical proof-of-concept study.…”

“…77,87,88 The product was used in a preclinical setting towards therapy studies and imaged using SPECT. 76,93,95 The same authors also determined that irradiation of 47 Ti at a reactor, to obtain 47 Sc via the 47 Ti(n,p) 47 Sc nuclear reaction, was not ideal for radiopharmaceutical purposes, as it yielded low activities of 47 Sc accompanied with a significant percentage of coproduced 46 Sc (T 1/2 = 83.8 d). 95,102,103 The method of 47 Sc production using eLINACs has been proposed in the literature.…”