Scandium radioisotopes are potentially useful for medical imaging such as positron emission tomography (PET) scans. However, health care providers do not currently use these isotopes to image cancer because they are difficult to produce in the amounts and purities appropriate for human use. In particular, they must be made using special isotopically enriched calcium targets. These targets are rare, expensive, and difficult to use in an accelerator. A new study describes ways to make and irradiate accelerator targets for scandium. These targets produce enough radioactive scandium to perform more than a dozen diagnostic PET assessments of human patients. The process recycles the calcium target material with more than 95% efficiency.
Click here for original story, Researchers improve production for short-lived scandium radioisotopes
Source: Phys.org