Abstract |
The document was prepared by the Nuclear Medicine Laboratory of the Division of Medical Radiation Exposure. The purpose of this research was to establish and describe the use of the various nuclear reactions by which 123I, a superior, low-radiation dose radiopharmaceutical, can be cyclotron-produced. Herein are reported both the methods of directly producing 123I and those which indirectly produce the radionuclide through the positive beta decay of its natural precursor, 123Xe. It is impossible to separate 123I from the troublesome radioiodine contaminants, notably 124I, which occur in the direct method. Thus, it is much preferable to produce pure 123I from 123Xe, which is easily separated from the radioiodines. It is hoped that the findings of this research will stimulate the use of 123I. Among its desirable characteristics is the capability of reducing the patient dose in a thyroid uptake measurement to a very small percentage of that delivered by the more commonly used 131I. Since 131I has been found responsible for most of the absorbed tissue dose in nuclear medicine, general adoption of pure 123I could have far-reaching effects in reducing the medical radiation dose to the pulation. (Author) |