Chapter 3: Radionuclide & Radiopharmaceutical Production

19 flashcards · Biology · by Kristóf Nagy

1. Carrier-free

   A radioactive isotope that is produced without any stable isotopes of the same element.31

2. Radionuclide

   An unstable atom that undergoes radioactive decay.25

3. Coulomb repulsion

   The electrostatic force of repulsion between two positively charged particles.29

4. Radiopharmaceutical

   A pharmaceutical drug that contains a radionuclide for use in medical diagnosis or therapy.26

5. Decay constant (λ)

   A measure of the probability of a radioactive nucleus decaying per unit time.25

6. Biological half-life (T_1/2_bio)

   The time it takes for half of a substance to be eliminated from the body by biological processes.32

7. Effective half-life (T_eff)

   The combined effect of the biological and physical half-lives of a radiopharmaceutical.33

8. Half-life (T_1/2)

   The time it takes for half of the radioactive nuclei in a sample to decay.25

9. Radiocarbon dating

   A method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the decay rate of carbon-14.27

10. Specific activity

    The activity per unit mass of a radioactive material.26

11. Radiochemical purity

    The percentage of radioactivity in the desired chemical form.26

12. Chemical purity

    The percentage of material in the desired chemical form.26

13. Nuclear reactor

    A device that sustains a nuclear fission chain reaction.28

14. Nuclear fission

    A nuclear reaction where a heavy nucleus splits into two or more lighter nuclei.28

15. Neutron activation

    The process of bombarding a material with neutrons to produce radioactive isotopes.28

16. Technetium-99m (99mTc)

    A widely used medical radioisotope for imaging due to its favourable half-life, gamma emission energy, and chemical properties.30

17. Molybdenum-99 (99Mo)

    The parent nuclide used to produce 99mTc in a generator.30

18. Radionuclide generator

    A device that produces a short-lived radionuclide from the radioactive decay of a longer-lived parent nuclide.2830

19. Charged-particle accelerator

    A device that uses electric and magnetic fields to accelerate charged particles to high energies.2829