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Title: Alpha particle emitters in medicine

Conference ·
OSTI ID:6474792

Radiation-induced cancer of bone, liver and lung has been a prominent harmful side-effect of medical applications of alpha emitters. In recent years, however, the potential use of antibodies labeled with alpha emitting radionuclides against cancer has seemed promising because alpha particles are highly effective in cell killing. High dose rates at high LET, effectiveness under hypoxic conditions, and minimal expectancy of repair are additional advantages of alpha emitters over antibodies labeled with beta emitting radionuclides for cancer therapy. Cyclotron-produced astatine-211 ({sup 211}At) and natural bismuth-212 ({sup 212}Bi) have been proposed and are under extensive study in the United States and Europe. Radium-223 ({sup 223}Ra) also has favorable properties as a potential alpha emitting label, including a short-lived daughter chain with four alpha emissions. The radiation dosimetry of internal alpha emitters is complex due to nonuniformly distributed sources, short particle tracks, and high relative specific ionization. The variations in dose at the cellular level may be extreme. Alpha-particle radiation dosimetry, therefore, must involve analysis of statistical energy deposition probabilities for cellular level targets. It must also account fully for nonuniform distributions of sources in tissues, source-target geometries, and particle-track physics. 18 refs., 4 figs.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (USA)
Sponsoring Organization:
DOE/NE
DOE Contract Number:
AC06-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
6474792
Report Number(s):
PNL-SA-17390; CONF-8909220-2; ON: DE91004761; TRN: 91-000675
Resource Relation:
Conference: Conference on dosimetry of administered radionuclides, Washington, DC (USA), 21-22 Sep 1989
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English