Patent Number: 050376020
Section: abstract

A radioisotope production facility (12) produces radioisotopes having application to Positron Emission Tomography. The radioisotopes produced include .sup.18 F, .sup.13 N, .sup.15 O, and .sup.11 C, and are produced by irradiating a selected target material (40) with a high energy .sup.3 He.sup.++ beam accelerated in a radio frequency quadruple (RFQ) linear accelerator (34). The facility includes, in addition to the RFQ linear accelerator and the selected target, a source of .sup.3 He.sup.++ ions (30), low energy transport means (32) for focusing the .sup.3 He.sup.++ beam into the RFQ linear accelerator, and a high energy transport means (36) for directing the accelerated .sup.3 He.sup.++ beam at the selected target. Further included is a target subsystem (16) that holds the target, automatically prepares precursors containing the .sup.18 F, .sup.13 N, .sup.15 O, and .sup.11 C radioisotopes, and an automated radiopharmaceutical subsystem (22) that prepares suitable radiopharmaceuticals from the desired precursors.