Hello, everyone! Do you have any ideas why Actinium-225 is so useful as a drug?
actinium-225 (Ac-225) therapeutic radiopharmaceutical used in the therapy of prostate cancer
Hi I think this is due to the fact that actinium-225 is an alpha emitter
But is it so widely used? As far as I know, Ac-225 is very expensive, and it's only considered as promising with developing new technologies for use. Maybe I'm wrong
@_brauer_ I don’t know about the breadth of use, but I think you are right, not widely
@morphism alpha particles have a small run in tissues, and this allows to kill cancer cells almost without harming healthy ones. Therefore, alpha-emitters are promising for the treatment of micrometastases and individual malignant cells. Moreover, I've read that alpha particles damage DNA molecules 100-1000 times more than beta particles
Actually, I don't know how widely Ac-225 is used now. I only know that it is obtained either on a linear accelerator by irradiating natural thorium with protons, or on a cyclotron using a nuclear reaction. I think it should be expensive