Production of 186gRe radionuclide by deuterons for theragnostic medicine

Abstract

Theragnostic medicine is a new integrated therapeutic system which can diagnose, deliver targeted therapy, and monitor the response to therapy. Many of the “neutron-rich” radionuclides suitable for metabolic radiotherapy are produced by nuclear reactor with a very low specific activity (AS). In selected cases, they can be produced by bombardment of targets by charged particle beams in “No Carrier Added Form” with very high AS. If the irradiations are made with deuteron beams some more advantages are obtained, as described in this paper, through 186gRe production, reported as an example.