Production system for 18F-2-deoxy-2-fluoro-D-glucose--a trial for automatic production.

We have developed a production system for 18F-2-deoxy-2-fluoro-D-glucose (18F-2FDG), which assures reliable production with easy handling and reduces radiation exposures to the operator. Chemical procedures in this system are the same as manual method developed in NIRS. This system has 2 operation modes; one is remote controlled manual operation mode and the other is microcomputer controlled automatic operation mode. In remote controlled mode, we tested this system 5 times and 18F-2FDG synthesized was supplied for clinical use once. The mean radiochemical yield of 18F-2FDG from the target gas recovery with decay time correction was 8%, that is the same as in the manual synthesis. It took about 2 hours from end of bombardment (EOB) to end of synthesis (EOS). Since this time is shorter than in manual synthesis, the available activity at EOS is increased.