Fluorine Research Paper

However since fluorine-18 is unstable it must decay to form a positive beta particle (or positron) and an oxygen-18. This is done inside the human body as the Fluorine and pharmaceutical accumulate in the tumour.

The positron will then travel a short distance losing energy before combining with a free electron which therefore annihilates them, producing 2 gamma rays which will be used to detect where the FDG has accumulated.

Technetium is a commercial radioisotope produced in the OPAL reactor at ANSTO and is used in the medical industry since its properties are ideal for its use. Technetium-99m is used for 80% of Australia’s nuclear medical scans, detecting disease in lungs, heart, liver, kidney, brain, blood and skeleton. Technetium-99m is used as a radioactive tracer which is injected to the patient where it will accumulate in any problem areas and can be detected by the gamma radiation given off by nuclear imaging. Using Nuclear Imaging to obtain a scan, doctors can detect the presence of secondary bone

It is used to diagnose/research and monitor brain disease, heart viability, coronary artery disease and, increasingly, to assess the spread of cancers such as malignant melanomas. The human body will recognise the FDG as glucose and will travel to the parts of the body requiring energy such as active tumors, where it accumulates, when the FDG is administered to the patient. The gamma rays which are emitted after the decay of Fluorine-18 are detected by PET detectors which are arranged in a ring through which the patient is moved. This allows for images to be produced of the areas of accumulation which can be combined to form a 3D image. Since it has a half-life of 110 minutes it minimises the patient's exposure to radiation another reason for its use in the medical