The Radiopharmacy/Cyclotron department of the Department of Nuclear Medicine at Ulm University Hospital is a highly specialised department in which radiopharmaceuticals labelled with short-lived positron emitters are produced for nuclear medicine diagnostics with PET or PET/CT. In addition, state-of-the-art radiotherapeutics are also produced for the treatment of special clinical pictures.
Production of short-lived positron emitters
The half-lives of the radionuclides used are so short (between 2-110 min) that it is essential to produce these radionuclides ourselves using our own particle accelerator. For radionuclide production, Radiopharmacy operates a PETtrace cyclotron (16.5 MeV protons, 8.25 MeV deuterons; General Electric) and a Ge-68/Ga-68 generator.
This radionuclide production is followed by the radiochemical conversion of the generated radionuclides with the corresponding pharmaceutical precursor compounds into radiopharmaceuticals. The Radiopharmacy/Cyclotron department has a state-of-the-art clean room for GMP-compliant radiopharmaceutical production.
Seven fully shielded lead cells ("hot cells") are available in the radiopharmaceutical production area. PET radiopharmaceuticals for human use (patient care and clinical research) are produced there in parenteral form under clean room conditions. The sterile filling and portioning of the "radiotracers" takes place in a radiopharmaceutical isolator. The principles and regulatory requirements relating to pharmaceutical production and radiation protection must always be observed and complied with. In particular, the focus is on testing pharmaceutical quality. This is verified in a comprehensive quality control (identity, chemical and radiochemical purity, sterility, tonicity, pH value, bacterial endotoxins).
The work and activities to be carried out in this area are logistically extremely complex and must be carried out particularly effectively. This is why this demanding work is particularly challenging. The deployment of an experienced and highly specialised team is essential.
Diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals (PET radiopharmaceuticals)
The following PET radiopharmaceuticals are regularly produced for clinical use:
- [18F] FDG (tumours, inflammation, dementia)
- [68Ga] PSMA ligand (prostate carcinoma)
- [68Ga] DOTA-i-TATE (neuroendocrine tumours, meningiomas)
- [11C] PIB (detection of amyloid deposits in dementia)
- [11C] Methionine (amino acid metabolism, parathyroid gland, brain tumours)
- [18F] FDOPA (neuroendocrine tumours, medullary thyroid carcinoma, Parkinson's syndromes)
The approved drug[18F] FDG ("Glucopet-18F") is produced daily for diagnostics (glucose metabolism: especially tumours, inflammation, dementia) using PET/CT.
It is also possible to offer other PET radiopharmaceuticals required for special issues at short notice (including[11C] choline,[11C] flumazenil,[11C] raclopride,[13N] ammonium,[18F] fluoride,[18F] fluoroproline,[18F] FLT).
Therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals
The Radiopharmaceuticals division also produces therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals for modern nuclear medicine therapy (endoradiotherapy).
In particular, the focus is on the effective treatment of neuroendocrine tumours and metastatic prostate carcinoma. The following radiotherapeutic agents are produced for this purpose:
- [177Lu] DOTA-i-TATE
- [177Lu] PSMA-617
Research
The division also has a radionuclide research laboratory in which radiopharmaceutical/radiochemical development/research is carried out in four radionuclide fume cupboards.
One focus here is the production of 89Zrfor the radiolabelling of nanoparticles and antibodies for modern tumour diagnostics with PET.
Further information can be found here.
Contact us
Address
Ulm University Hospital
Clinic for Nuclear Medicine
Albert-Einstein-Allee 23
89081 Ulm
You can reach us by phone:
Mon to Thu: 08:00-12:00 and 13:00-16:00
Fri: 08:00-14:00
Contact:
Dr Christoph Solbach | Head of Radiopharmacy / Cyclotron