Development of radiodetection systems towards miniaturised quality control of PET and SPECT radiopharmaceuticals

Taggart, Matthew P.; Tarn, Mark D.; Esfahani, Mohammad M. N.; Schofield, Daniel M.; Brown, Nathaniel J.; Archibald, Stephen J.; Deakin, Tom; Pamme, Nicole; Thompson, Lee F.

Abstract

The ability to detect radiation in microfluidic devices is important for the on-chip analysis of radiopharmaceuticals, but previously reported systems have largely suffered from various limitations including cost, complexity of fabrication, and insufficient sensitivity and/or speed. Here, we present the use of sensitive, low cost, small-sized, commercially available silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) for the detection of radioactivity inside microfluidic channels fabricated from a range of conventional microfluidic chip substrates. We demonstrate the effects of chip material and thickness on the detection of the positron-emitting isotope, [¹⁸F]fluoride, and find that, while the SiPMs are light sensors, they are able to detect radiation even through opaque chip materials via direct positron and gamma (γ) ray interaction. Finally, we employed the SiPM platform for analysis of the PET (positron emission tomography) radiotracers 2-[¹⁸F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose ([¹⁸F]FDG) and [⁶⁸Ga]gallium-citrate, and highlight the ability to detect the γ ray emitting SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) radiotracer, [⁹⁹ᵐTc]pertechnetate.

Citation

Taggart, M. P., Tarn, M. D., Esfahani, M. M. N., Schofield, D. M., Brown, N. J., Archibald, S. J., …Thompson, L. F. (2016). Development of radiodetection systems towards miniaturised quality control of PET and SPECT radiopharmaceuticals. Lab on a chip, 16(9), 1605-1616. https://doi.org/10.1039/c6lc00099a

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 23, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Apr 5, 2016
• Publication Date: Apr 5, 2016
• Deposit Date: Apr 11, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 11, 2016
• Journal: Lab on a chip
• Print ISSN: 1473-0197
• Electronic ISSN: 1473-0189
• Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 16
• Issue: 9
• Pages: 1605-1616
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/c6lc00099a
• Keywords: Radiodetection, Microfluidic devices, Radiopharmaceuticals
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/435556
• Publisher URL: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2016/LC/C6LC00099A#!divAbstract
• Additional Information: : This document is Similarity Check deposited; : Supplementary Information; : The Royal Society of Chemistry has an exclusive publication licence for this journal; OPEN ACCESS: The accepted version of this article will be made freely available after a 12 month embargo period; : Single-blind; : Received 22 January 2016; Accepted 23 March 2016; Advance Article published 5 April 2016; Version of Record published 26 April 2016