Radiolysis of 2-[18F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose ([18F]FDG) and the role of ethanol and radioactive concentration.

Radiolysis is the process by which radioactively labeled compounds degrade. Many positron emission tomography (PET) radiopharmaceuticals produced with high radioactive concentrations and specific activities exhibit low radiochemical purity because of radiolysis. Little data exist that describe the radiolytic decomposition of 2-[(18)F]fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose ([(18)F]FDG).