Production of 186gRe radionuclide by deuterons for theragnostic medicine

Theragnostic medicine is a new integrated therapeutic system which can diagnose, deliver targeted therapy, and monitor the response to therapy. Many of the “neutron-rich” radionuclides suitable for metabolic radiotherapy are produced by nuclear reactor with a very low specific activity (A S). In selected cases, they can be produced by bombardment of targets by charged particle beams in “No Carrier Added Form” with very high A S. If the irradiations are made with deuteron beams some more advantages are obtained, as described in this paper, through 186gRe production, reported as an example.