Theranostic mercury: (197(m))Hg with high specific activity for imaging and therapy

Martin Walther; Stephan Preusche; Stig Bartel; Gerd Wunderlich; Robert Freudenberg; Jörg Steinbach; Hans-Jürgen Pietzsch

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2015.01.001

Theranostic mercury: (197(m))Hg with high specific activity for imaging and therapy

Appl Radiat Isot. 2015 Mar:97:177-181. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2015.01.001. Epub 2015 Jan 5.

Authors

Martin Walther¹, Stephan Preusche¹, Stig Bartel², Gerd Wunderlich³, Robert Freudenberg³, Jörg Steinbach¹, Hans-Jürgen Pietzsch¹

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Radiopharmaceutical Cancer Research, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Bautzner Landstrasse 400, 01328 Dresden, Germany.
² Verein für Kernverfahrenstechnik und Analytik Rossendorf e.V., P.O. Box 510119, 01314 Dresden, Germany.
³ Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital/Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany.

PMID: 25588997
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2015.01.001

Abstract

The no carrier added (NCA) radionuclide (197(m))Hg is accessible through proton induced nuclear reactions on gold. The decay properties of both simultaneous produced nuclear isomers (197m)Hg and (197)Hg like convenient half life, low energy gamma radiations for imaging, Auger and conversion electrons for therapy are combined with unique chemical and physical properties of mercury and its compounds. Gold as a monoisotopic element has a natural abundance of 100% (197)Au superseding expensive enrichment for the target material. Additionally, the high thermal conductivity of gold enables high beam current irradiations. For separation of target material a liquid-liquid extraction method was applied.

Keywords: (177)Lu; (197)Hg; Auger and conversion electrons; Dosimetry; Theranostics.