Production of Ga-68 with a General Electric PETtrace cyclotron by liquid target.

Purpose: In recent years the use of Ga (t = 67.84 min, β: 88.88%) for the labelling of different PET radiopharmaceuticals has significantly increased.

Assessment of the neutron dose field around a biomedical cyclotron: FLUKA simulation and experimental measurements.

In the planning of a new cyclotron facility, an accurate knowledge of the radiation field around the accelerator is fundamental for the design of shielding, the protection of workers, the general public and the environment. Monte Carlo simulations can be very useful in this process, and their use is constantly increasing. However, few data have been published so far as regards the proper validation of Monte Carlo simulation against experimental measurements, particularly in the energy range of biomedical cyclotrons.

Radiation Protection Studies for Medical Particle Accelerators using Fluka Monte Carlo Code.

Radiation protection (RP) in the use of medical cyclotrons involves many aspects both in the routine use and for the decommissioning of a site. Guidelines for site planning and installation, as well as for RP assessment, are given in international documents; however, the latter typically offer analytic methods of calculation of shielding and materials activation, in approximate or idealised geometry set-ups. The availability of Monte Carlo (MC) codes with accurate up-to-date libraries for transport and interaction of neutrons and charged particles at energies below 250 MeV, together with the continuously increasing power of modern computers, makes the systematic use of simulations with realistic geometries possible, yielding equipment and site-specific evaluation of the source terms, shielding requirements and all quantities relevant to RP at the same time.

The concept of minimum detectable activity of radionuclide activity meters and their suitability for routine quality control of radiopharmaceuticals. An experimental study.

Radionuclide activity meters ("dose calibrators") are ionization chambers designed to measure relatively high amount of activities which are normally contained in radiopharmaceuticals. However, in the current radiopharmacy practice, these radiation detectors have been proposed to be used in measurements of samples with lower activity, such as in routine quality control (QC) tests. To check the feasibility of such measurements, in this work we assessed the performance of four different devices in the lower range of detectability, by means of experimental measurements of a radioactive sample.

Experimental measurement and Monte Carlo assessment of Argon-41 production in a PET cyclotron facility.

In a medical cyclotron facility, (41)Ar (t1/2 = 109.34 m) is produced by the activation of air due to the neutron flux during irradiation, according to the (40)Ar(n,γ)(41)Ar reaction; this is particularly relevant in widely diffused high beam current cyclotrons for the production of PET radionuclides. While theoretical estimations of the (41)Ar production have been published, no data are available on direct experimental measurements for a biomedical cyclotron.