Lutetium-177 is rapidly becoming an important radioisotope for a variety of medical uses, including bone-targeted palliation therapy and treatment of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. Production of 177Lu must be done in such a manner as to minimize the amount of 177mLu, which has a long half-life that makes it unsuitable for radiation therapy. It can be made directly or indirectly by the neutron irradiation of enriched 176Lu or 176Yb targets. The production of high specific activity carrier-free 177Lu, or 177Lu without the metastable product, can be achieved by irradiating highly enriched 176Yb via the (n,β−) reaction . The High Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has a high neutron flux that can produce very high specific activity 177Lu. Removal of the 177Lu radioisotope from the bulk 176Yb must then be performed to achieve a high enough specific activity for radiotherapy use and for the valuable enriched 176Yb to be recycled. The specific activities that can be achieved and the subsequent processing parameters required to produce high specific 177Lu were explored via a series of small-scale target irradiations in the High Flux Isotope Reactor.

Lutetium-177 production at ORNL

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.