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。正电子发射断层扫描是一种由医疗保险报销的核医学代谢成像设备，用于诊断、分期和重新分期10种癌症适应症。每年的PET扫描(350,000+)正在迅速增加，但CMS的PET扫描报销从2004年的1774美元下降到2005年的1371美元，降幅为23%。总成本的20%是放射性药物剂量的F-18氟脱氧葡萄糖(FDG)。因此，聚酯使用量的持续增长将受益于生产FDG的成本的降低。该项目的目标是通过使用一种新的靶标发明，实现非常高的射束热移除率，将每剂量的成本降低4-10倍。除去更多的热量，可以利用高质子束电流来产生核反应O-18(p，n)F-18，从而生成用于合成FDG的F-18氟离子。两家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)使用的外部注入离子源允许300-500微安的外部束流，因此束流功率为9-15千瓦。目前的技术F-18生产目标只能消除大约1千瓦的热量，不能利用这些高性能加速器。杜克大学的第一阶段实验利用我们的专利微型回热式涡轮泵和新型热交换器，通过回旋加速器靶材在低目标水压下实现快速循环，确立了在使用更高压力的情况下消除远高于3千瓦的热量的可行性。一台将产生9千瓦束流功率的回旋加速器已被确定用于n阶段测试。目标1是在加速器上安装I期目标系统，并在更高的压力下运行以确定热极限。目标2正在将这些结果与用于设计改进原型的预测性热工水力模型相关联。Aim 3正在开发一种最佳热交换器。目标4正在设计一种磁力驱动的优化回热式涡轮泵。目标5正在开发通过侧流提取和/或间歇方法回收F-18的有效方法。目标6是应用以前目标的结果来设计、制造和测试在一个紧凑组件中结合目标、蓄热式涡轮泵和热交换器的改进原型。目标7是设计和演示适用于广泛使用的可靠的高性能系统。目标7是热工水力模拟，以确定性能包络。第三阶段的目标是使这项技术可用于适当的商业加速器，从而通过显著降低放射性核素FDG和其他F-18标记放射性药物的成本来实现将PET扫描成本降低高达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.