History, present and future of the use of 68Ge/68Ga generators – 1st part

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Authors: Kateřina Fialová ^1,2; Petra Suchánková ^1,2; Martin Vlk ^1,2; Ján Kozempel ¹
Authors‘ workplace: Katedra jaderné chemie, Fakulta jaderná a fyzikálně inženýrská, České vysoké učení technické v Praze, ČR ¹; Klinika nukleární medicíny a endokrinologie, 2. LF UK a Fakultní nemocnice v Motole, Praha, ČR ²
Published in: NuklMed 2021;10:68-72
Category: Review Article

Overview

Aim: Review of history, state of art and trends in gaining of ⁶⁸Ga, especially from ⁶⁸Ga/⁶⁸Ge radionuclide generators.

Introduction: Positron emission tomography (PET) is one of the most modern methods of nuclear medicine. Fluorine-18 is the most frequently used radionuclide for PET diagnostics, but there are other emerging radionuclides and the great attention is paid to ⁶⁸Ga. The undeniable advantage of this radionuclide is its way of production. In contrast with other radionuclides for PET diagnostics almost exclusively prepared in the cyclotron, ⁶⁸Ga can be gained also from a radionuclide generator which significantly simplifies and speeds up other steps of its use.

Issue description: The development of ⁶⁸Ge/⁶⁸Ga radionuclide generators has been performed through the research of new separation systems which still remains a hot topic. Nowadays, the variety of separation systems is available. Some of them have a registration by European Medicines Agency (EMA) or American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in human medicine. Others are suitable just for research and development. Regarding to technological and legislative difficulties connected with the development of ⁶⁸Ge/⁶⁸Ga radionuclide generator, the design of a system providing the eluate of ⁶⁸Ga in convenient chemical form and sufficient radiochemical and radionuclide purity remains a great challenge and research teams around the world focus on the topic.

Nowadays, there is one ⁶⁸Ge/⁶⁸Ga radionuclide generator and one kit for ⁶⁸Ga labelling, SomaKit TOC, used for neuroendocrine tumours diagnostics registered in the Czech Republic. Other kit, ⁶⁸Ga-PSMA-11, is used for diagnostics of prostate cancer in the specific treatment programme. However, the use of this radionuclide is not limited for these only applications and ⁶⁸Ga enjoys the growing popularity in the world scale.

Conclusion: Even though ¹⁸F remains the radionuclide of choice in PET, broad studies of separation systems and targeting molecules could lead to his replacement by ⁶⁸Ga, mainly for the possibility of its elution from radionuclide generators.

Keywords:

radionuclide generator – Positron emission tomography – gallium-68 – germanium-68

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