Production of curie quantities of Ga-68 with a medical cyclotron via the Zn-68 (p,n)Ga-68 reaction

PET imaging with Ga-68-labeled tracers has seen a dramatic increase over the past five years primarily due to the increased accessibility of Ge-68/Ga-68 generators, the availability of tracers with superb targeting properties for labeling, straightforward labeling procedures and the approval of these tracers by regulatory entities. Available Ge-68/Ga-68 generators nominally deliver up to 1.85 GBq (50 mCi) when fresh limiting production and distribution of Ga-68-labeled tracers to a few daily doses per generator. The focus of this study was to provide a simple and efficient method for Ga-68 production in clinically relevant quantities using a low energy medical cyclotron with a solid target.