SMALL MEDICAL CYCLOTRON PRODUCED RADIOISOTOPES: FROM CLASSIC TO NOVEL RADIOTRACERS

Positron emission tomography (PET) has become a widespread and indispensable tool for non-invasive oncological, cardiological and neurological diagnosis. With its increase use, there has been a surge in medical cyclotron facilities to answer this demand as well as a continuous research into novel radiopharmaceuticals. Although the high demand for new and efficient radiotracers has spurred the use of new radioisotopes, the classic PET isotopes such as fluorine-18, carbon-11, nitrogen-13 and oxygen-15 have still widespread use, due to their fast ease of synthesis, when compared with other isotopes. The purpose of this mini-review is to present both old and novel radiopharmaceuticals, based on the aforementioned radionuclides, used in clinical diagnosis and biomedical research.