摘要：Four terbium radioisotopes ( 149, 152, 155, 161 Tb) constitute a potential theranostic quartet for cancer treatment but require any derived radiopharmaceutical to be essentially free of impurities. Terbium-155 prepared by proton irradiation and on-line mass separation at the CERN-ISOLDE and CERN-MEDICIS facilities contains radioactive 139 Ce 16 O and also zinc or gold, depending on the catcher foil used. A method using ion-exchange and extraction chromatography resins in two column separation steps has been developed to isolate 155 Tb with a chemical yield of ≥95% and radionuclidic purity ≥99.9%. Conversion of terbium into a form suitable for chelation to targeting molecules in diagnostic nuclear medicine is presented. The resulting 155 Tb preparations are suitable for the determination of absolute activity, SPECT phantom imaging studies and pre-clinical trials.
