Establishing a PET research centre in Zagreb, Croatia (status and progress report)

The completion and opening of a commercial FDG production facility at the Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Zagreb, Croatia ensured a continuous, reliable daily supply of radioactive compound on site. This has laid the foundations for establishing a centre for nuclear molecular diagnostics which initially uses already available FDG, but later we also plan to synthesise other F18 radiopharmaceuticals. In the long run it is anticipated that we shall expand our activities to other positron-emission isotopes like C11. A ClearPet camera has been purchased, delivered, tested and correlated with PMOD image analysis software. We report on the present operational status of the facility, we show the first preliminary results, and offer our projections for further development in the scientific and organisational sense. The final aim of this facility is to grow into a strong research centre with good scientific collaboration with other R&D organisations in the region.