Critical Appraisal of Radionuclide Calibrators and Gamma Cameras Prior to Lutetium-177 Internal Dosimetry at Two South African Hospitals

Abstract

Introduction The functionality of radionuclide dose calibrator and nuclear medicine imaging systems hasa direct effect on the accuracy and preciseness of internal dosimetry evaluations. Our study, therefore, aimed to critically appraise the radionuclide calibrators and gamma cameras prior to Lutetium-177 (¹⁷⁷Lu) internal dosimetry in a developing country. Materials and Methods Two radionuclide calibrators' and three gamma cameras at two South African hospitals were critically appraised in preparation for internal dosimetry of ¹⁷⁷Lu. The radionuclide calibrators' accuracy, linearity, and sample volume abilities were appraised. For the three gamma cameras, the uniformity, energy resolution, center of rotation, and collimator sensitivity were appraised. These appraisals were performed between the years 2014 and 2019. Results The radionuclide calibrators' constancy, accuracy, linearity, and sample volume were within ± 5%. We also integrated a ¹⁷⁷Lu calibration factor into one radionuclide calibrator's library. The three gamma cameras' uniformity was within 2 to 5%, energy resolution within 11%, center of rotation within 2 mm, and the sensitivity recorded for all low energy high resolution collimator. Conclusion Our radionuclide calibrators passed the critical appraisal and may be confidently used for assaying ¹⁷⁷Lu. All three cameras also passed critical appraisal and may be used to assess organ absorbed dose. Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University Research Ethics Committee approved this study, SMUREC Ethics Reference Number: SMUREC//M/114/2018: PG University of Kwazulu-Natal Biomedical Research Ethics Committee approved this study, BREC Ethics Reference Number: BE693/18. Publication Date: 30 April 2022 (online) © 2022. World Association of Radiopharmaceutical and Molecular Therapy (WARMTH). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) Thieme Medical and Scientific Publishers Pvt. Ltd. A-12, 2nd Floor, Sector 2, Noida-201301 UP, India