The Gollman Group - Defining a PET Facility

There are at least four types of PET facilities, defined by the absence or presence of a Cyclotron, and how it is used. We are familiar with the extensive requirements and procedures unique to each. Our goal is to get you "up-and-running" quickly and efficiently.

Facility with PET Scanner or Coincidence Gamma Camera (no cyclotron)

This facility uses ¹⁸F labeled FDG provided by a nearby cyclotron facility. It performs routine clinical PET procedures. Clinical research is not likely. For the foreseeable future, it will be using FDG and/or a ⁸²Sr-⁸²Rb generator. The levels of radionuclide per study are relatively small (5-10 millicuries for FDG and 30-60 millicuries of Rubidium-82). As a result, ancillary equipment needs are limited to upgraded shielding. Equipment choices should, however, be made with an eye towards future needs and upgradeability.

Distribution Facility with Cyclotron (no scanner)

This facility produces 18FDG for sale to surrounding hospitals, to more distant areas within reasonable driving distance, and to areas with reliable airline service. These are typically entrepreneurial or corporate projects with a keen eye towards total supply and equipment costs while meeting all regulatory requirements for preparation and distribution. Because of their private nature, we are able to use combinations of new and re-manufactured pieces of QA equipment and laboratory appliances. In addition to normal configurations of laboratory equipment, a monitoring system, hot cells, and mini-hot cells, these sites will also require specialized shielded shipping containers that will pass D.O.T. certification tests.

Facility with PET Scanner and Cyclotron

This facility prepares 18F labeled FDG, other 18F labeled tracers such as Fluorodopa (FDOPA), as well as tracers labeled with 13NH13, 15O, and 11C. This type of site performs both routine clinical PET procedures and some clinical research. It most likely will be involved in some form of distribution to other hospitals and/or PET pharmacies. It requires the equipment needed for a Scanner facility as well as all of the equipment required for a production environment. Facilities of this type have the distinct advantage of being able to utilize the ultra-short half lived PET isotopes which demand close proximity to a cyclotron with the potential competitive advantage of being able to perform certain studies not possible in institutions without a cyclotron.

Facility with PET Scanner, Cyclotron, and a Basic Research Agenda

This facility will prepare all nuclides used in all three of the previously named types of facilities and requires the same equipment used in a heavily clinical PET Cyclotron/Scanner facility. In many cases, the equipment needed for quality control and basic research are more complex and may have higher levels of precision and accuracy than those used in a non-research environment. Other additional types of instrumentation may be needed, depending upon the type of research that is anticipated.

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