Production of Strontium-89 Radioisotope by Neutron Activation Method and Preparation of 89Strontium Chloride Radiopharmaceutical

Abstract

<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Strontium-89 is one of the most important radioisotopes used in nuclear medicine for therapy of bone pain caused by bone metastases. That is due to the beta radiation with sufficient energy for destroying metastatic sites in bone tissue. The routine application is ensured by introducing ⁸⁹SrCl₂ radiopharmaceutical and then injection of a specific dose in human vein, where it leads to reduction of bone pains. In this research, ⁸⁹Sr was produced in the Tehran Research Reactor (TRR) for both natural Sr (includes ⁸⁴Sr and ⁸⁸Sr) and enriched Sr (includes ⁸⁸Sr of %99 purity) for the comparison and preparation of ⁸⁹SrCl₂ radiopharmaceutical. Natural radioactivated Sr which produces gamma radiation was injected in mice and then based on gamma spectroscopy in different tissues, a calculation was made for the dose absorption rate, defined by %ID/g. Also, radioactivated enriched Sr-88 was injected in mice and the %ID/g was calculated due to distribution of the beta radiation in mice tissues. In our biodistribution we observed a rapid blood clearance followed by the high absorption of activity in bone tissues. These data have shown that the prepared compound is a well defined radiopharmaceutical for the bone pain palliation in metastatic lesions. </span>