Review of Cyclotrons for the Production of Radioactive Isotopes for Medical and Industrial Applications

Radioactive isotopes are used in a wide range of medical, biological, environmental and industrial applications. Cyclotrons are the primary tool for producing the shorter-lived, proton-rich radioisotopes currently used in a variety of medical applications. Although the primary use of the cyclotron-produced short-lived radioisotopes is in PET/CT (positron emission tomography/computed tomography) and SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) diagnostic medical procedures, cyclotrons are also producing longer-lived isotopes for therapeutic procedures as well as for other industrial and applied science applications. Commercial suppliers of cyclotrons are responding by providing a range of cyclotrons in the energy range of 3–70MeV for the differing needs of the various applications. These cyclotrons generally have multiple beams servicing multiple targets. This review article presents some of the applications of the radioisotopes and provides a comparison of some of the capabilities of the various current cyclotrons. The use of nuclear medicine and the number of cyclotrons supplying the needed isotopes are increasing. It is expected that there will soon be a new generation of small “tabletop” cyclotrons providing patient doses on demand.