Radiopharmaceutical

Drug nomenclature for radiopharmaceuticals

As with other pharmaceutical drugs, there is standardization of the drug nomenclature for radiopharmaceuticals, although various standards coexist. The International Nonproprietary Names (INNs), United States Pharmacopeia (USP) names, and IUPAC names for these agents are usually similar other than trivial style differences. The details are explained at Radiopharmacology § Drug nomenclature for radiopharmaceuticals.

Specific radiopharmaceuticals

A list of nuclear medicine radiopharmaceuticals follows. Some radioisotopes* are used in ionic or inert form without attachment to a pharmaceutical, these are also included. There is a section for each radioisotope with a table of radiopharmaceuticals using that radioisotope. The sections are ordered alphabetically by the English name of the radioisotope. Sections for the same element are then ordered by atomic mass number.

Calcium-47

⁴⁷Ca is a beta and gamma emitter.

..

Carbon-11

¹¹C is a positron emitter.

Carbon-14

¹⁴C is a beta emitter.

Chromium-51

⁵¹Cr is a gamma emitter.

Cobalt-57

⁵⁷Co is a gamma emitter.

Cobalt-58

⁵⁸Co is a gamma emitter.

Erbium-169

¹⁶⁹Er is a beta emitter.

Fluorine-18

¹⁸F is a positron emitter with a half life of 109 minutes. It is produced in medical cyclotrons, usually from oxygen-18, and then chemically attached to a pharmaceutical. See PET scan.

Gallium-67

⁶⁷Ga is a gamma emitter. See gallium scan.

Gallium-68

⁶⁸Ga is a positron emitter, with a 68-minute half life, produced by elution from germanium-68 in a gallium-68 generator. See also positron emission tomography.

Hydrogen-3

³H or tritium is a beta emitter.

Indium-111

¹¹¹In is a gamma emitter.

Iodine-123

¹²³I is a gamma emitter. It is used only diagnostically, as its radiation is penetrating and short-lived.

Iodine-125

¹²⁵I is a gamma emitter with a long half-life of 59.4 days (the longest of all radioiodines used in medicine). Iodine-123 is preferred for imaging, so I-125 is used diagnostically only when the test requires a longer period to prepare the radiopharmaceutical and trace it, such as a fibrinogen scan to diagnose clotting. I-125's gamma radiation is of medium penetration, making it more useful as a therapeutic isotope for brachytherapy implant of radioisotope capsules for local treatment of cancers.

Iodine-131

¹³¹I is a beta and gamma emitter. It is used both to destroy thyroid and thyroid cancer tissues (via beta radiation, which is short-range), and also other neuroendocrine tissues when used in MIBG. It can also be seen by a gamma camera, and can serve as a diagnostic imaging tracer, when treatment is also being attempted at the same time. However iodine-123 is usually preferred when only imaging is desired.

Iron-59

⁵⁹Fe is a beta and gamma emitter.

Krypton-81m

⁸¹Kr^m is a gamma emitter.

Nitrogen-13

¹³N is a positron emitter.

Oxygen-15

¹⁵O is a positron emitter.

Phosphorus-32

³²P is a beta emitter.

Radium-223

²²³Ra is an alpha emitter.

Rubidium-82

⁸²Rb is a positron and gamma emitter.

Samarium-153

¹⁵³Sm is a beta and gamma emitter.

Selenium-75

⁷⁵Se is a gamma emitter.

Sodium-22

²²Na is a positron and gamma emitter.

Sodium-24

²⁴Na is a beta and gamma emitter.

Strontium-89

⁸⁹Sr is a beta emitter.

Technetium-99m

⁹⁹Tc is a gamma emitter. It is obtained on-site at the imaging center as the soluble pertechnetate which is eluted from a technetium-99m generator, and then either used directly as this soluble salt, or else used to synthesize a number of technetium-99m-based radiopharmaceuticals.

...

Thallium-201

²⁰¹Tl is a gamma emitter.

Xenon-133

¹³³Xe is a gamma emitter.

Yttrium-90

⁹⁰Y is a beta emitter.