Quality assurance and quality control of short-lived radiopharmaceuticals for PET

General guidelines for the quality assurance and quality control of short-lived radiopharmaceuticals for positron emission tomography (PET) are given. Quality assurance and quality control recommendations are also given for a selection of frequently used short-lived radiopharmaceuticals for PET, namely [1-11C]acetate, S-[carbonyl-11C]CGP 12177, L-[N-methyl-11C]deprenyl, [N-methyl-11C]flumazenil, 11C-labelled-L-methionines, 3-N-[11C]methylspiperone, [O-methyl-11C]raclopride, [13N]ammonia, 15O-labelled gases, n-[15O]butanol, [15O]water, [18F]fluoride, 2-[18F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose, L-6-[18F]fluoro-DOPA and 18F-labelled 3-N-alkylspiperones.