155Tb production by cyclotrons: what level of 155Gd enrichment allows clinical applications?

TL;DR

This study evaluates the optimal level of 155Gd enrichment in targets for cyclotron production of 155Tb, aiming to minimize contaminant isotopes and ensure medical imaging quality and patient safety.

Contribution

It provides computational analysis to determine the maximum allowable 156Gd impurity in 155Gd targets for high-purity 155Tb production.

Findings

Maximum 156Gd impurity of 1% yields >99% radionuclidic purity.

A 2% 156Gd impurity level limits patient dose increase below 10%.

Produced 155Tb maintains good imaging quality with acceptable impurity levels.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: 155Tb represents a potentially useful radionuclide for diagnostic medical applications, but its production remains a challenging problem. A recent experimental campaign, conducted with low-energy proton beams impinging on a 155Gd target with 91.9% enrichment, demonstrated a significant co-production of 156gTb, a contaminant of great concern since its half-life is comparable to that of 155Tb and its high-energy gamma emissions severely impact on the dose released and on the quality of the SPECT images. Herein, the isotopic purity of the enriched 155Gd target necessary to minimize the co-production of contaminant radioisotopes, in particular 156gTb, was explored using various computational simulations. RESULTS: Starting from the recent data obtained with the 155Gd-enriched target, the co-production of other Tb radioisotopes besides 155Tb has been evaluated using the TALYS code. It was found that 156Gd, with an isotopic content of 5.87%, was the principal contributor to the co-production of 156gTb. The analysis also demonstrated that the maximum amount of 156Gd admissible for 155Tb production with a radionuclidic purity higher than 99% was 1%. A less stringent condition was obtained through computational dosimetry analysis, suggesting that a 2% content of 156Gd in the target can be tolerated to limit the dose increase to the patient below the 10% limit. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that the imaging properties of the produced 155Tb are not severely affected by this level of impurity in the target. CONCLUSIONS: 155Tb can be produced with a quality suitable for medical applications using low-energy proton beams and 155Gd-enriched targets if the 156Gd impurity content does not exceed 2%. Under these conditions, the dose increase due to the presence of contaminant radioisotopes remains below the 10% limit and good quality images, comparable to those of 111In, are guaranteed.