Current capabilities in astatine-211 production at Texas A&M University *

Alpha emitting radionuclides with medically relevant half-lives are of renewed interest to the medical community for treating tumors and other diseases because they deposit large amounts of energy close to the location of the radioisotope. Some could be used for “theranostic” purposes, where both therapy and diagnostic imaging are supplied by the same isotope or different isotopes of the same element. While some of these isotopes are available via low energy protons or reactor routes, some of the most promising isotopes are inaccessible via these conventional routes. One such isotope of interest is astatine-211, an alpha-emitter with a 7.2h half-life. The K150 at the Cyclotron Institute of Texas A&M is capable of generating reasonable intensities of alpha particles to produce this isotope. A program is being developed to explore production of alpha emitters with medically relevant half-lives at Texas A&M. The current state of ²¹¹At production using beams from the K150 and future directions will be discussed.