REGENERATIVE TURBINE TARGETRY TO IMPROVE F-18 PET

描述（由申请人提供）： 拟议工作的总体目标是降低用于正电子发射断层扫描（PET）的加速器生产的F-18放射性药物的成本，PET是一种医疗保险报销的核医学代谢成像模式，用于诊断，分期和重新分期十种癌症适应症。每年的PET扫描（350，000+）正在迅速增加，但CMS对PET扫描的报销从2004年的1774美元下降到2005年的1371美元，下降了23%。总成本的20%是F-18氟脱氧葡萄糖（FDG）的放射性药物剂量。因此，PET使用的持续增长将受益于降低生产FDG的成本。该项目的目标是通过使用实现非常高的射束热去除率的新型目标发明，将每剂量的成本降低4-10倍。去除更多的热量允许使用高质子束流来产生核反应O-18（p，n）F-18，以制造F-18氟离子用于合成FDG。两个商业回旋加速器制造商（离子束应用和高级回旋加速器系统）使用外部注入离子源，其允许300-500微安的外部束电流，因此束功率为9-15千瓦。目前的F-18生产技术只能消除约1千瓦的热量，无法利用这些高性能加速器。在杜克大学进行的第一阶段实验利用了我们获得专利的微型再生涡轮机泵和新型热交换器，通过回旋加速器靶在低目标水压下实现快速再循环，确立了在使用更高压力的情况下去除远高于3千瓦热量的可行性。已确定将产生9千瓦束流功率的回旋加速器用于阶段n测试。目标1是在这个加速器上安装第一阶段的目标系统，并在更高的压力下运行，以确定热极限。目标2是将这些结果与预测性热工水力模型相关联，以设计改进的原型。目标三是研制一种最佳的换热器。目的4是设计一种优化的磁驱动回热式涡轮机泵。目标5是开发通过侧流萃取和/或分批方法回收F-18的有效方法。目标6是应用先前目标的结果来设计、建造和测试改进的原型，该原型将目标、再生式涡轮机泵和热交换器结合在一个紧凑的组件中。目标7是设计和演示适合广泛使用的可靠的高性能系统。目标7是建立热工水力模型以确定性能包线。第3阶段的目标是使这项技术可用于适当的商业加速器，从而实现通过合理降低oroducine FDG和其他F-18标记放射性药物的成本来降低PET扫描成本高达15%的总体目标。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall objective of the proposed work is to reduce the cost of accelerator produced F-18 radiopharmaceuticals used in Positron Emission Tomography (PET), a Medicare-reimbursed nuclear medicine metabolic imaging modality used to diagnose, stage, and restage ten cancer indications. Annual PET scans (350,000+) are rapidly increasing, but CMS reimbursement for PET scans is decreasing 23% from $1774 in 2004 to $1371 in 2005. Twenty percent of the total cost is the radiopharmaceutical dose of F-18 fluorodeoxy glucose (FDG). Sustaining growth in the use of PET will thus benefit from reducing the cost of producing FDG. The goal of this project is to lower cost per dose by a factor of 4-10 through use of a novel target invention accomplishing very high beam heat removal rates. Removing more heat allows use of high proton beam currents to produce the nuclear reaction O-18(p,n)F-18 to make F-18 fluoride ion for synthesis of FDG. Two commercial cyclotron manufacturers (Ion Beam Applications and Advanced Cyclotron Systems) use external injection ion sources that permit external beam currents of 300-500 microamps, and thus beam power of 9-15 kilowatts. Current technology F-18 production targets capable of removing only about one kilowatt of heat, cannot take advantage of these high performance accelerators. Phase I experiments at Duke University utilized our patented miniature regenerative turbine pump and novel heat exchanger to achieve rapid recirculation at low target water pressures through a cyclotron target, establishing the feasibility of removing well above three kilowatts of heat if higher pressures are used. A cyclotron which will produce beam power of nine kilowatts has been identified for Phase n testing. Aim 1 is installing the Phase I target system on this accelerator, and operating at higher pressures to determine the thermal limit. Aim 2 is correlating these results with predictive thermohydraulic models for designing improved prototypes. Aim 3 is developing an optimum heat exchanger. Aim 4 is designing an optimized regenerative turbine pump with magnetic drive. Aim 5 is developing effective methods of recovering F-18 by sidestream extraction and/or batch methods. Aim 6 is to apply results from previous aims to design, build and test improved prototypes combining target, regenerative turbine pump, and heat exchanger in one compact assembly. Aim 7 is the design and demonstration of a reliable high-performance system suitable for widespread use. Aim 7 is thermohydraulic modeling to determine performance envelopes. The goal of Phase 3 is to make this technology available to appropriate commercial accelerators, thus implementing the overall goal of lowering the cost of PET scans by up to 15% by sienificantlv reducing the cost of oroducine FDG and other F-18 labeled radiopharmaceuticals.