Study of the production yields of 18F, 11C, 13N and 15O positron emitters from plasma-laser proton sources at ELI-Beamlines for labeling of PET radiopharmaceuticals

The development of novel compact PET radionuclide production systems is of great interest to promote the diffusion of PET diagnostics, especially in view of the continuous development of microfluidics labeling approaches. We studied the feasibility to produce clinically-relevant amounts of PET isotopes by means of laser-accelerated proton sources such that expected at the ELI-Beamlines facility. F-18, C-11, N-13 and O-15 production yields were calculated through the TALYS software, by taking into account the broad proton spectra expected. With the hypothesized proton fluencies, clinically-relevant amounts of radionuclides can be obtained, suitable to prepare single doses of F-18-, C-11- and N-13-labeled radio pharmaceuticals exploiting fast and efficient microfluidic labeling systems.