Dry Distillation of Radioiodine from TeO2 Targets

Applied Sciences

Jesper Fonslet¹ 

[1] Copenhagen University Hospital Herlev, Herlev Ringvej 75, DK-2730 Herlev, Denmark

关键词: cyclotron;    radioiodine;    production;    distillation;    iodine-124;    tellurium dioxide;   

DOI  :  10.3390/app3040675

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

As medical cyclotrons are becoming more abundant, ¹²³I and ¹²⁴I are getting more attention as alternatives to ¹³¹I for diagnostics of thyroid disease. Both ¹²³I and ¹²⁴I provide better diagnostics, deliver less dose to patients and both reduce the risk of thyroid stunning, facilitating subsequent therapy. Dry distillation of radioiodine from tellurium dioxide targets has become the standard approach to producing these radioiodines. Setting up such a production of radioiodine is associated with a lengthy optimization of the process and for this purpose natural tellurium is often used for economical reasons. In this paper, the distillation parameters are scrutinized to ensure optimal distillation temperature, in order to minimize time spent and prevent loss of expensive target material. It is further demonstrated how the individual iodine isotopes, produced from proton bombardment of ^natTe, will diffuse out of the target in a time dependent ratio. We believe the effect is due to the isotopes having their maximum cross section at different energies. The individual isotopes produced will thus have their highest concentration at different depths in the target. This results in individual mean diffusion lengths and diffusion times for the different isotopes.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.