Ag phantom images with Cerenkov Luminescence Imaging and digital autoradiography within the ISOLPHARM project.

Targeted Radionuclide Therapy (TRT) is a medical technique exploiting radionuclides to combat cancer growth and spread. TRT requires a supply of radionuclides that are currently produced by either cyclotrons or nuclear research reactors. In this context, the ISOLPHARM project investigates the production of innovative radionuclides for medical applications.

Chromatographic separation of silver-111 from neutron-irradiated palladium target: toward direct labeling of radiotracers.

Background: Silver-111 is a promising β-emitting radioisotope with ideal characteristics for targeted radionuclide therapy and associated single photon emission tomography imaging. Its decay properties closely resemble the clinically established lutetium-177, making it an attractive candidate for therapeutic applications. In addition, the clinical value of silver-111 is further enhanced by the existence of the positron-emitting counterpart silver-103, thus imparting a truly theranostic potential to this element.

Study of the radionuclide deposition in the radioactive ion line of the Selective Production of Exotic Species (SPES) facility.

SPES (Selective Production of Exotic Species) is a second generation facility for the production of radioactive ion beams that is going to be commissioned at the Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro of INFN at Legnaro, Padua, Italy. Radioactive neutron-rich isotopes are expected to be produced by nuclear fission induced by a 40 MeV, 200 μA primary proton beam impinging on a UC target. The expected reaction rate is about 10 fission/s.

Production and characterization of Ag radioisotope for medical use in a TRIGA Mark II nuclear research reactor.

Radio Pharmaceutical Therapy (RPT) comes forth as a promising technique to treat a wide range of tumors while ensuring low collateral damage to nearby healthy tissues. This kind of cancer therapy exploits the radiation following the decay of a specific radionuclide to deliver a lethal dose to tumor tissues. In the framework of the ISOLPHARM project of INFN, Ag was recently proposed as a promising core of a therapeutic radiopharmaceutical.

Study of the radioactive contamination of the ion source complex in the Selective Production of Exotic Species (SPES) facility.

The Isotope Separation On-Line (ISOL) technique is today established as one of the primary methods to produce high-intensity and high-quality radioactive beams. This technique produces, for a given amount of the desired isotope, many orders of magnitude of other radioactive species. Due to the activation generated by interactions of the primary beam, intense neutron fields, and deposition of the produced radioactive ions inside beam line elements, an ISOL facility in operation becomes an intense radioactive source.