Abstract
Radiopharmaceutical material is a pharmaceutical product or drug that may exert spontaneous degradation of unstable nuclei with nuclear particles or photons emission. Radiopharmaceuticals may be used in research, diagnosis, therapy, and environmental purposes. Moreover, radiopharmaceuticals act as radioactive tracers among patients via gamma-ray emissions. Therefore, the uses of radiopharmaceuticals as diagnostic agents may be given to patients to examine any biochemical, molecular biology, physiological, or anatomical abnormalities. Therapeutic radiopharmaceutical may be administered internally for therapeutic purposes via selective effect on certain abnormal cells or organs. The best known example for therapeutic radiopharmaceuticala is iodide131 for thyroid ablation in among patients with hyperthyroid. A third class of radiopharmaceutical is drug labeling which mainly used in research by using small amount of radioactive substances not for diagnostic purposes, but to investigate the metabolism, bio-distribution, pharmakodynamic, and pharmakokinetic of certain drugs in a nonradioactive form. This chapter focuses mainly on basic fundamentals of radiopharmaceutical chemistry, preparation, environmental, pharmaceutical, diagnostic, therapeutic, and research applications.
Highlights
Radiopharmaceuticals were first defined by the Federal Register of the USA as radioactive agents- potassium (40K) and carbon (14C) based natural compounds- or biological products contain unstable nuclei which may degrade spontaneously and emit photons or nuclear particles
Training on the use and management of labeled compounds is provided in various institutions, the demand for pharmacists who specialize in radiolabeled drugs has been determined, and radiopharmaceuticals have become the first specialty in the late 1960 in Pharmacy school at the U. of Southern California (USC), USA
Conditions like public perception arising from concern for the environment either from radiation accidents or future storage of nuclear waste, because the operating and replacement costs for aging reactors are factors influencing the prospects of future availability of radioisotopes
Summary
Radiopharmaceuticals were first defined by the Federal Register of the USA as radioactive agents- potassium (40K) and carbon (14C) based natural compounds- or biological products contain unstable nuclei which may degrade spontaneously and emit photons or nuclear particles These drugs might be prepared using nuclide generator or nonradioactive reagent [1]. There are other types of radiopharmaceuticals that made of tritium, phosphorus 32, or carbon 14 These isotopes do not emit the same type of rays- gamma rays- it is impractical to monitor and examine their situation inside the body by external detectors. This type of isotypes could be applied in tracer diagnosis by analysis of samples.
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