A simple Cu-64 production and its application of Cu-64 ATSM

One of the positron emission radionuclides, Cu-64, has been reported to be a particularly effective radioisotope in PET imaging study. This utility of Cu-64 depends on the chemical stability in water with proper energy and half-life as gamma-emitters. Hence, we tried to develop a simple method for producing this isotope using an old cyclotron model in our site (50 MeV, Scantronics co.). In particular, we designed the equipments of enrich Ni-64 plating system and radioactive Cu-64 separation using plastic cartridge column; Ni-64 plating system on gold foil which located in the 13 degrees angle target toward beam irradiation. For the nuclear reaction of Cu-64, it Was applied to Ni-64(p, n) Cu-64 at low energy under the degrader composed of Al and Ta foils. After beam irradiation, Cu-64 was identified by multichannel analyzer installed for a HPGe detector and its utility was certified by the microPET images of Cu-64-ATSM (CT-26 tumor bearing mouse as reported previously). The image quality of Cu-64 was also very similar to that of F-18 radioisotope in microPET scanner. In conclusion, a method of Cu-64 production and its application was successfully established in old cyclotron having high energy. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.