99mTc Auger electrons for targeted tumour therapy : a review

• Author(s): Adriana Alexandre dos Santos Tavares ; João Manuel Ribeiro da Silva Tavares
• Date: 2010
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10216/21438
• Origin: Repositório Aberto da Universidade do Porto
• Subject(s): Ciências tecnológicas; Engenharia; Engenharia biomédica
• Document Type: Article
• Language: English

Description

Purpose: Targeted radiotherapy using Auger electrons presents multiple advantages and challenges. The advantageous characteristics of this type of radiotherapy can explain the growing interest in these specific electrons for cancer therapy. During the last decade, Technetium-99m (99mTc) has been used as an imaging agent and only recently has it been analyzed as a potential therapeutic agent. This paper aims to be a review on the potential use of 99mTc as a therapeutic agent. Conclusions: The physical properties of 99mTc along with its large availability through a generator in situ may represent a new and important pathway in targeted radiotherapy. Experimental data obtained so far has encouraged multiple researchers to investigate 99mTc further as a therapeutic agent for multiple common oncologic situations. In spite of these initial attempts to use 99mTc as a therapeutic agent beyond that of imaging, future studies are required to better define its dosimetric implications and radiobiological efficacy.