Radioactive Pharmaceuticals

Tutorial III

Isotopes
They are atoms of a given element which

are chemically identical but which physically may differ slightly in mass.
Atoms having the same nuclear charge,

and hence the same atomic number but having masses differing from each other.
The mass number physically characterizes
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a particular isotope.

Isotopes may be classified as:

Radioactive Isotopes
The radioactive isotopes of elements are

called Radioisotopes or radionuclides. They may be divided into two different types:
Naturally occurring isotopes Artificially produced isotopes

Radium is the first naturally occurring isotope used in the field of medicine.

Examples of Official Radioactive Pharmaceuticals

Chromic Phosphate P 32 Suspension Cyanocobalamine Co 57 Capsules Ferrous Citrate Fe 59 Injection Gallium Citrate Ga 57 Injection Sodium Iodide I 123 Solution Sodium Iodide I 125 Solution

Applications of Radioactivity
In nuclear medicine

Radioisotopes are used for diagnosis, treatment, and research. Radioactive chemical tracers emitting gamma rays or positrons can provide diagnostic information about a person's internal anatomy and the functioning of specific organs.
In biochemistry and genetics

Radio nuclides label molecules and allow tracing chemical and physiological processes occurring in living organisms, such as DNA replication or amino acid transport..
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Radioactivity
It is the breakdown of unstable isotope It is the process where unstable isotope

undergoes changes until a stable state is reached and in the transformation emits energy in the form of radiation.
This radiation may consist of alpha , beta

particles and gamma rays.

A stable state is reached as a result of
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Radioactive Decay.

Half life of radioisotopes

It is the time required for half of the

original atoms of a radioactive isotope to decay. Each radioisotope has a distinct half life, which may be is seconds, hours, days or even years.
Radioisotope I 123 Au 198 C 14 Co 57 Co 60
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Half life 13.2 hours 2.70 days 5700 years 270 days 5.27 years

Equations in Radioactivity
The rate of decay is always a constant fraction of the total

number of undecomposed atoms present. Mathematically, the rate of disintegration may be expressed as follows:
where N is the number of undecomposed atoms at time t, and is the decay constant or the fraction disintegrating per unit of time. The constant may be expressed in any unit of time, i.e., reciprocal seconds, minutes, hours, etc.

The previous equation may be integrated to give the

expression of the exponential decay law which may be written:

N = N0e-t

where N is the number of remaining atoms after time t, N0 is the number of atoms originally present (when t = 0), is the decay constant for the unit of time in terms of which the interval t is expressed.
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 Since the rate of decay may also be characterized by the

half-life T1/2 the value of N will be N0 at the end of the half period. The equation then becomes:

N0 = N0e-T
the following expression:

1/2

Solving the above equation by natural algorithms result in

T1/2 = ln2

T1/2 = 2.303 log 2

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The half-life T1/2 is related to the disintegration constant so if one value is known the other can be calculated.

Units of Radioactivity

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curie
The quantity of activity of a radioisotope is

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expressed in absolute units, i.e., total number of atoms disintegrating per unit time. The curie Ci is the basic unit which is defined as the quantity of radioisotope in which 3.7 x 1010 (37 billion) atoms disintegrate per second. The millcurie mCi is of a curie. The microcurie Ci is of a curie. The nanocurie nCi also known as millimicrocurie, is of a curie. The doses of official radioactive pharmaceuticals are expressed in terms of millicuries and microcuries.

becquerel
The becquerel Bq is the SI-derived unit of

radioactivity.
One Bq is defined as the activity of a

quantity of radioactive material in which one atom decays per second.

Megabecquerel MBq = 106 atoms

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disintegrating / second Gegabecquerel GBq = 109 atoms disintegrating / second Relation of becquerel with curie:

roentgen
The roentgen is the international unit of X-

rays or gamma radiations.

It is defined as the quantity of X-rays or

gamma radiations that will produce under standard conditions of temperature and pressure ions carrying 1 electrostatic unit of electrical charge of either sign.

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rad
It is an acronym for radiation absorbed

dose
It is a unit for measurement of the

absorbed dose of ionizing radiation.

It corresponds to an energy transfer of 100

ergs per gram of any absorbing material including tissues

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Examples of calculations involving Radioactivity

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Example 1
The disintegration constant of To calculate a radioisotope is 0.02496 day1 the half. Calculate the half-life of the life of a radioisotope. radio isotope when its disintegrat ion constant is given:
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Example 2
The half-life of Au198 is 2.70 To calculate days. Calculate its the disintegration constant. disintegrat ion constant of a radioisoto pe when its half-life is given:
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Example 3
The original quantity of a To calculate radioisotope is given as 500 the microcuries per ml. If the disintegrat quantity remaining after 16 ion days is constant 125 microcuries per ml. and the calculate: half-life of a) The disintegration rate a constant. radioisoto b) The half life of the pe when radioisotope. its initial activity and

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Example 4
To calculate the activity of a radioisoto pe remaining at any time t after the original assay:
A sample of I131 has an initial

activity of 30 microcuries. Its half-life is 8.08 days. Calculate its activity, in microcuries, at the end of exactly 20 days.

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