Production of Carrier Added 177Lu in HFETR

Abstract

As an ideal medical theranostic radionuclide, 177Lu is widely applied in many cancer diagnostics and therapies. The carrier added 177Lu has the advantages of simple radiochemical process and high irradiation yield. Herein, this paper conducted the research on the preparation of carrier added 177Lu by thermal neutron irradiation of 176Lu in the high flux engineering test reactor (HFETR). This work irradiated natural lutetium and enriched 176Lu. As a result, 177Lu with specific activity of 0.87 Ci/mg and 177mLu content of 0.009% was produced by 13 days irradiation of natural Lu at thermal neutron flux of 2×1014 n·cm-2·s-1; 177Lu with specific activity of 24.9 Ci/mg and 177mLu content of 0.02% was produced by 28 days irradiation of enriched 176Lu (86.5%) at thermal neutron flux of 1×1014 n·cm-2·s-1; 177Lu with specific activity of 25.76 Ci/mg and 177mLu content of 0.002% was produced by 5 days irradiation of enriched 176Lu (86.5%) at thermal neutron flux of 2×1014 n·cm-2·s-1; and 177Lu with specific activity of 28.3 Ci/mg and 177mLu content of 0.009% was produced by 12 days irradiation of enriched 176Lu (86.5%) at thermal neutron flux of 2×1014 n·cm-2·s-1. Among them, both 177Lu products using enriched 176Lu targets meet the domestic group requirements with specific activity more than 20 Ci/mg and 177mLu/177Lu less than 0.07%. Overall, carrier added 177Lu which can meet the standards can be prepared by irradiation of enriched 176Lu in HFETR. It is expected to realize localized production of carrier added 177Lu according to market demand and promote the domestic researches in 177Lu nuclear medicine applications.

Keywords

• carrier added 177lu
• enriched 176lu
• preparation
• irradiation