title: Production of iodine-124 and its applications in nuclear medicine.
abstract: Until recently, iodine-124 was not considered to be an attractive isotope for medical applications owing to its complex radioactive decay scheme, which includes several high-energy gamma rays. However, its unique chemical properties, and convenient half-life of 4.2 days indicated it would be only a matter of time for its frequent application to become a reality. The development of new medical imaging techniques, especially improvements in the technology of positron emission tomography (PET), such as the development of new detectors and signal processing electronics, has opened up new prospects for its application. With the increasing use of PET in medical oncology, pharmacokinetics, and drug metabolism, (124)I-labeled radiopharmaceuticals are now becoming one of the most useful tools for PET imaging, and owing to the convenient half-life of I-124, they can be used in PET scanners far away from the radionuclide production site. Thus far, the limited availability of this radionuclide has been an impediment to its wider application in clinical use. For example, sodium [(124)I]-iodide is potentially useful for diagnosis and dosimetry in thyroid disease and [(124)I]-M-iodobenzylguanidine ([(124)I]-MIBG) has enormous potential for use in cardiovascular imaging, diagnosis, and dosimetry of malignant diseases such as neuroblastoma, paraganglioma, pheochromocytoma, and carcinoids. However, despite that potential, both are still not widely used. This is a typical scenario of a rising new star among the new PET tracers.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear, IEN-CNEN, Divisão de Radiofármacos, Rua Hélio de Almeida 75, Cidade Universitária, Ilha do Fundão, 21941-906 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Electronic address: anam@ien.gov.br.
authors.forename: Ana Maria S
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Braghirolli
authors.affiliation: Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Escola Nacional de Sáúde Pública Sérgio Arouca, Centro de Estudos da Saúde do Trabalhador e Ecologia Humana, Rua Leopoldo Bulhões 1480, Manguinhos, RJ, Rio de Janeiro 21041-210, Brazil. Electronic address: wasissman@ensp.fiocruz.br.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Waissmann
authors.affiliation: Centro de Desenvolvimento da Tecnologia Nuclear, CDTN-CNEN, Av. Antônio Carlos, 6627 Campus UFMG, Pampulha, BH/MG CEP: 30161-970, Brazil. Electronic address: silvajb@cdtn.br.
authors.forename: Juliana Batista
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: da Silva
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear, IEN-CNEN, Divisão de Radiofármacos, Rua Hélio de Almeida 75, Cidade Universitária, Ilha do Fundão, 21941-906 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Electronic address: goncalo@ien.gov.br.
authors.forename: Gonçalo R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: dos Santos
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes / Q000737:chemistry*; D007553:Isotope Labeling / Q000379:methods*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals / Q000138:chemical synthesis*
chemical_list: D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals
keywords: Iodine radiolabeling; Iodine-124; Positron emission tomography (PET); Radionuclide production