Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging (2011) 38:2283–2284 DOI 10.1007/s00259-011-1944-4

BOOK REVIEW

Tony Theobald (ed): Sampson’s textbook of radiopharmacy (4th edition) Pharmaceutical Press, London 2011, ISBN: 978-0-85369-789-3 Sergio Todde & Philip Elsinga

Published online: 29 September 2011 # Springer-Verlag 2011

The word “radiopharmacy” was introduced for the first time during the 1960s, as an alternative to “radiochemistry”, to underline the specific pharmaceutical aspects intrinsic to the preparation of radiolabelled compounds to be used in patients to image physiological/pathological targets in vivo. Many years had to pass before the first, dedicated, comprehensive radiopharmacy/radiochemistry textbooks appeared. For instance, the first edition of Sampson’s Textbook of Radiopharmacy was first released in 1990. There are more available resources and books addressed to e.g. basic radiochemistry or even more specific topics such as 18F or 99m Tc radiochemistry to date. However, to our knowledge, there are very few examples of real textbooks covering practically all the possible basic aspects underlying the field of radiopharmacy. Sampson’s Textbook of Radiopharmacy has now arrived in its fourth edition, which has been revised in order to cover and update new developments both in science and daily practice in radiopharmacy. The book is supported by the UK Radiopharmacy Group. Besides many British authors, numerous contributions from experts worldwide are included. Regulatory aspects of the USA, the UK and Europe are dealt with. The book comprises 37 chapters, divided into 6 sections: 1. Physics applied to radiopharmacy 2. Radiopharmaceutical chemistry 3. Radiopharmacokinetics S. Todde (*) University of Milano-Bicocca, Monza, Italy e-mail: [email protected] P. Elsinga UMCG Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands e-mail: [email protected]

4. Radiopharmaceutics 5. Radiopharmacy practice 6. Techniques in research and development All of the chapters describe the real basics of the subject; therefore, the book is very suitable as a textbook and reference work for students of radiopharmacy or persons working in the field of nuclear medicine. Indeed, the reviewers confess here that they profited from the chance offered by this review to also refresh their minds about topics sometimes left behind in daily routine activities. This new edition is markedly updated, compared with the previous ones, and several chapters have been extensively rewritten and updated. Looking with more detail at the various sections, we may say that “Physics applied to radiopharmacy” is excellently written. The section starts with a chapter on the basics of radioactivity. Methods of producing radionuclides (e.g. fission vs cyclotron) as well as interaction of the radiation with matter are very clearly explained, so that even newcomers or other professionals or students not specifically accustomed to physics should be able to understand the basic concepts. Much attention has been paid to radiation protection aspects. Automation of procedures could have been included because it serves to protect the workers against radiation. The section on “Radiopharmaceutical chemistry” includes chapters reviewing most of the general methods of radiopharmaceutical preparation, with special emphasis on the “chemistry” involved in radiolabelling procedures. Methods have been classified following the position of the radionuclides on Mendeleev’s Periodic Table, which assigns their typical chemical properties to each element. That choice raises immediate awareness of why, for instance, elements belonging to groups 1 or 2 (e.g. 82Rb) have limited application and poor flexibility, due to their inherent

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difficulty of being incorporated into targeting molecules, and not to mention possible additional problems due to unfavourable decay properties (e.g. short or very short halflife, high dosimetry, etc.). In other words, radionuclides are correctly considered as the “bottleneck” in determining the possible reaction pathways; indeed, the “cold” part of a radiopharmaceutical may inherently be prepared in the desired time and chemical form, and no special limitations have to be considered. The coordination chemistry is covered in great detail, and an “in-depth” description of the mechanism of bond formation depending on the orbital configuration and oxidation state is given, which are applicable to many useful radionuclides, such as 99mTc, 188 Re, 68Ga, etc; that is a significant part of the most useful radionuclides used in medical application. Besides many attractive points, we noticed a kind of underestimation of the role and development of PET in the last two decades in the general success and advancement in molecular imaging. In our opinion, insufficient space has been dedicated to the enormous potential and flexibility of 11C and 18F chemistry, certainly considered and extended, compared with the previous edition. This is also reflected in the lack of information related to automation, which plays a pivotal role in PET radiochemistry and PET dose preparation and dispensing, considering the higher potential radiation burden typical of high-energy emitters. However, this may not lead to forgetting all the other valuable merits of this book, such as the section on “Radiopharmacokinetics”, which covers basic concepts on biodistribution and modelling, which apply to most radiolabelled compounds, and on receptor/ligand interactions and dosimetry issues, which are of paramount importance in radiotherapy. For many radiopharmaceuticals an extensive overview has been given on the uptake mechanism, which is very useful. The section on “Radiopharmaceutics” includes chapters dedicated to radionuclide generators, cell labelling, principles of quality assurance and radiopharmaceutical formulation. Also attention has been paid to the design of radiopharmaceuticals. In

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particular, a survey of the major radiopharmaceuticals validated for both diagnostic and therapeutic clinical use is given; for each of them, a short excerpt is provided from the so-called Summary of Product Characteristics (SPC), usually provided by the marketing authorization owner together with the radiopharmaceutical (and/or the cold kit) itself, which report, in brief, methods of preparation, indication, composition, pharmacokinetics and dosimetry. A specific chapter is dedicated to another form of information typically included in SPCs, that is quality control methods, with an extensive list of standard operating procedures (SOP). A topic which is only seldom considered in radiochemistry/ radiopharmaceutical books is regulatory, which is dealt with in the section on “Radiopharmacy practice”. One of the reasons is probably the large variety of different situations that may vary from country to country (especially true for the Member States of the European Union), which keep the potential author away from the topic. In this regard, a commendable effort has been made in Sampson’s Textbook of Radiopharmacy, and very useful chapters depicting the legislative situation in the USA, the UK and the European Union have been provided. In relation to the regulatory aspects, practical consequences such as design and operation of radiopharmacy facilities are discussed, including their monitoring and classifications/validations. The final section is dedicated to recent progress in techniques in research and development, including issues and very basics of preclinical imaging, molecular biology applied to radiopharmacy and advanced methods for the characterization of radiopharmaceuticals. Finally, we would like to remark that the book is well referenced, so that the reader wishing to deepen knowledge of any topic may find a bunch of useful information at the end of each chapter; moreover, besides the obvious target represented by radiopharmacists/radiochemists, we would recommend the book to all other professionals involved in the field of nuclear medicine, as the textbook may be considered as a real and effective compendium.