Distribution
The labeled 18F-FDG compound (still having a half-life only 109.8 minutes, or slightly less than 2 hours), is rapidly shipped to points of use by the fastest possible mode. Due to transport regulations for radioactive compounds, this is normally done by specially licensed road transport, but transport may also include dedicated small commercial jet services, to extend the reach of PET scanning to centres hundreds of miles away from the cyclotron and laboratory which produce the radioisotope-labeled compound.
Recently, on-site cyclotrons with integral shielding and portable chemistry stations for making 18F-FDG have accompanied PET scanners to remote hospitals. This technology holds some promise in the future, for replacing some of the scramble to transport FDG from site of manufacture to site of use.
Read more about this topic: Fludeoxyglucose (18F)
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)